Take it Back
by SteelyGlint
Summary: Sometimes a single action or unspoken word can dredge up the mistakes of the past. Blake's past is filled with moments she would rather forget, but one in particular carries both her most cherished memory and most loathed regret. If only she could rectify her mistake she wouldn't be subject the aching of her heart. (Ladybug) [M for one scene and last chapter] - Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Just a quick disclaimer, all characters are the property of Roster Teeth and I, in no way, am attempting to lay claim to the rights to these characters.**

 **Also, a small note to the readers. I have decided a different approach compared to how i used to write these works. This work is completed as of the posting of this chapter. Every week I will be posting the next chapter(See comment added after initial post at end). There will be little to no wait for the chapters to be written because they are all already done. I may add on extra epilogue chapters, but those are not written at this time.**

 **Lastly, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 1**

* * *

It was just another weekend at Beacon Academy, filled with both relaxation and furious studying for the coming week of school. Most students were enjoying their short lived freedom from the confines of class, while others remained ever diligent, reviewing material and rewriting notes in an attempt to better prepare themselves of the unforeseen future that they have landed themselves in at this prestigious academy. One such student was furiously writing notes in her notebook, this student is none other than Weiss Schnee, the perfect student that strived to be the best at everything. In the same room, resided her three teammates, Yang Xiao-Long, Ruby Rose, and Blake Belladonna. The perpetual, walking radiator was currently playing games on her scroll while listening to music with headphones. Ruby was cleaning and doing maintenance on Crescent Rose. Blake was doing what she always did on her weekends, read quietly on her bed. It was just another peaceful Saturday morning, but for one particular resident of this dorm it was D-Day and her nerves were threatening to tear her apart.

Ruby had been planning for a certain conversation, with a certain individual for nearly a month now. In the high of anxiety she turned to cleaning her cherished weapon to relax, needless to say it was doing nothing for her. She glanced at the clock for what seemed to be the millionth time in the last hour.

 _Good, its 10:30 AM, Yang will be so engrossed in her game that she will be oblivious to anything going on around her. Weiss will be neck deep in studying for the exam in two weeks and she'll ignore anything not related to her studies … time to go for it!_

Ruby reassembled Crescent Rose in lightning speed, even without her semblance the process was so ingrained within her that she could take it apart and put it back together before anyone would be able to question why she was doing it. Ruby gingerly carried Crescent Rose to her bed before gently setting it down on the pillow, treating it like a newborn. Ruby then slowly made her way over the secluded bibliophilic teammate who was lounging on her bed, the anticipation that was welling up inside the younger girl threatened to shatter the miniscule amount of courage she had summoned for this task. As a result, with every step she took her face grew darker a shade of red. Doubt filled her mind and her boots felt like they were filled with lead. In one final push of bravery, the young girl swallowed her doubt and took the final step that landed her next to the bed that supported the still reading woman.

Ruby's throat and mouth were dry as bone, making it nearly impossible to form words. She cleared her throat once, then twice to get her oral and esophageal fluids flowing once more. The noise unintentionally served the dual purpose of grabbing the raven-haired girls attention away form the book she was immersed in. The previously reading girl peered up at her young but admirable team leader with piercing golden eye. Ever the passive observer, a habit she picked up while in the White Fang and fending for herself, the older girl noticed that Ruby's face was flushed, her hands were fiddling with the hem of the younger girls shirt, and that Ruby was struggling to maintain eye contact. Nothing simple or unimportant could cause her fearless leader to act in this way, so Blake closed her book and set it aside, giving the flustered, younger girl her undivided attention. The younger girl seemed to notice that Blake had set down her book and that she was patiently waiting for Ruby to explain what had gotten her so worked up.

"H-hey Blake! What'cha doin'?" Blake didn't miss the stutter, but decided to ignore it, else she risk dumping the weight of embarrassment on top of the younger girl's already burdened shoulders.

"I was just reading an old book, I've read it several times, but it so good that I enjoy it every time I re-read it." Blake remarked passively, clearly trying to suggest that she was doing nothing important that could not be interrupted. This obvious cue went straight over Ruby's head.

"Oh! If you're busy I'll just come back when you're done?" The younger girl's eyes displayed a mixture of relief and sadness; the odd combination confused Blake, but she reached out and caught the younger girl's arm before she could back away form her.

"Ruby, I'm not doing anything important. Like I said, I've read this book several times, so I'm not missing anything by not reading for a while. You look like you need someone to talk to …" Ruby's flushed face grew even darker when she felt Blake's hand clasp around her slim wrist.

"Actually, I just need to talk to you. Do … do you mind if we talk? In private?" The two emotions that battled for dominance just beneath the surface of Ruby's pupils were hope and fear. Again Blake was confused about what she was reading in Ruby's eyes, but her confusion only fueled her to get to the bottom of whatever was what eating at the younger girl.

"Of course we can Ruby," Blake stood up from her bed and motioned to the door with her hand, "Lead the way."

* * *

'Talking in private' apparently meant that Ruby wanted to be in a place devoid of all life. Hence why the two of them were currently on the roof of the building that housed their lecture halls. Blake stood facing Ruby, with Ruby facing away from her. The younger girl appeared to be silently trying to motivate herself, for what exactly escaped Blake. Finally, after waiting for nearly 5 minutes the younger girl whispered loudly a "Lets do this!" and a fist-to-palm gesture before spinning around to face her patient teammate.

"Blake, I need to tell you something. This _something_ is probably the most important something I've ever told anyone, or will ever tell anyone." Ruby took a deep breath and gathered her courage. "Blake … I think you're an amazing person. You're skilled, talented, patient, generous, kind, and beautiful. You've lead the toughest life I can imagine. Slowly watching a pure cause, that you've loved and been a part of nearly your entire life, become a corrupt terrorist organization is something that I cannot even fathom. You've seen the worst in the world, yet you remain untainted. You are the strongest person I know because you don't let anything get you down, you always move forward and face your fears and demons head on without flinching. To be someone like you, is something I dream about. You are my idol and I always strive to be someone who deserves to be your teammate and team leader. I know that I'm just a scrawny brat, who it a couple years younger than you. And I know that you are an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, awe-inspiring woman who will change the world … But I just wanted to let you know that I think you're the _best-est_ person I've ever met … And … and … and I think I'm in love with you … I was kinda hoping you liked me back and that were could be girlfriends … or lovers." The last part was a near whisper, but Blake's Faunus enhanced hearing heard every word.

The following silence was deafening to the younger girl, the pounding in her heart and the blood that rushed to her head caused her heartbeat to resonate in her ears. The sheer amount of embarrassment pinned her eyes to her feet. The anticipation of an answer from the object of her affection caused the young girl's diaphragm to seize up, resulting in her breathing all but halting. The sound of a foot landing on the floor in the distance caused the younger girl's head to snap up. There stood Blake, half turned towards the door to the roof, one foot further from the younger girl than when they first started. Her eye's were wide with fear and shock, her hands in white-knuckled fists, and her bow was twitching and shifting at the tiniest of sounds.

Tears welled up in the younger girl's eyes, Blake's rejection was quite clear, but she'd be damned if she let the older girl leave without first responding. Using her semblance, Ruby sped to the door, shutting it and placing her body just in front of the doorknob. Blake, realizing her situation, sighed dejectedly then took a deep breath to address Ruby.

"I'm sorry Ruby … but I do not feel the same. To me you are simply my leader, in the future I had hoped to one day call you a close friend, or possibly a younger sister, but never my girlfriend, never mind my lover. I must reject your feelings, and I hope that one day we can return to being proper teammates-"

"W-what?" The tears were now freely streaming down the younger girl's face, the pain of rejection nearly rivaled the pain she felt when she lost her mother.

Blake composed herself, she knew that an ambiguous answer could cause long lasting confusion and eventual scarring of their relationship which would potentially ruin their teamwork in the future, so she decided to be as honest and as clear as possible. She squared her shoulders to Ruby, looking her in the eye with a cold and distant stare that also contained traces of fury, "I have never thought of you in the way you think of me, nor will I ever think of you that way. You are too naïve, Ruby. Life isn't a fairy tale, it's about time you woke up to reality." The venom-coated blade of rejection had pierced Ruby's heart; the younger girl flung the door open and fled with her hand clutching the shirt above her heart. Blake could only sigh sadly before exiting through the same door and returning to their dorm.

Silently she slipped back into the room, Yang was listening to music on her bed, and Weiss was reviewing material from Professor Port's lecture. The raven-haired girl made her way back to her bed, taking note that Crescent Rose was no longer on Ruby's bed before picking up her book. She returned to how she was before Ruby even spoke to her.

* * *

Later that same night, Yang was impatiently pacing back and forth between the parallel bunk beds, repeatedly checking her scroll. Ruby had mysteriously disappeared sometime in the morning and had failed to return to the dorm in time for curfew. Blake, blaming herself for Ruby's disappearance due to how she handled rejecting Ruby's feelings, had remained silent on the topic, patiently waiting for any news on her team leader. It was nearly midnight before any of them heard from the younger girl; the communication came in the form of a call on Yang's scroll.

"RUBY! Where the hell are you?!"

"*Sniffle* … I-I'm fine Yang … Ozpin needed me to run a small mission for him …"

Yang caught that lie before it even finished coming through the receiver, but as an elder sister she knew that it would be better to confront the lie face to face with Ruby rather than through a call.

"Alright … so where are you?"

"…"

"Where. Are. You. Ruby?!"

"In the infirmary-" The call was instantly dropped when Yang's scroll fell from her hand onto the floor, the fuming blonde already out the door before the device settled on the floor. Weiss and Blake, neither of whom heard the other half of the conversation between sisters, could only follow behind in confusion.

Blake's gut was wrought into a knot as she deduced where Yang was headed, the infirmary. Upon reaching the dreaded infirmary, the receptionist noticed a near raging blonde who was closely followed by two very confused and worried looking teammates.

"Hello, how can I help-" The receptionist couldn't even finish her sentence before Yang cut her off.

"Ruby Rose, where is she?" The receptionist's head shot up in recognition, they currently only had one tenant, who just so happened to have the same name but the receptionist panicked, she had been issued a very desperate request when Ruby was carried into the infirmary, " _please don't let anyone other than 'Yang' into my room."_ The look of pure desperation on her face was enough to make the receptionist comply immediately.

"And who are you?"

"That doesn't matter, where is Ruby!?" Yang slammed her fist down on the receptionist's desk, making the wood splinter beneath the force. For a small instance it looked like the older woman would yield and point out Ruby's room, but her demeanor quickly changed. The older woman stood quickly before speaking in a hushed, yet crystal clear tone. "You will refrain from raising your voice during your stay here, also you will receive no information about any patient in our care here unless you can provide some proof of relation to them. Lastly you will sign in so that we have a record of who comes and goes throughout the day. Am I understood?"

The authority that the receptionist was capable of commanding in tone of voice alone instantly striped Yang of her rampaging emotions. Yang shrunk away from the dented desk and lowered her gaze in shame. The receptionist, noticing that the flares of emotions had died down, gently smiled at the three girls before speaking in soothing tones, "Lets try this again … Hello, how may I help you?"

"My name is Yang Xiao-Long, I'm here looking for my half-sister Ruby Rose, I was told she was admitted into the infirmary earlier tonight …"

"Well, Ms. Xiao-Long-"

"Just Yang is fine."

"Well, Yang I can tell you that Ruby was indeed admitted a few hours ago, as to the extent of her injuries or how she received them, I cannot divulge such information without her consent. I can however show you to her room." The receptionist moved away from her desk after pushing in her chair, motioning for Yang to follow her, however when Blake and Weiss moved to follow as well the receptionist placed herself between Yang and her two teammates.

"I am sorry, but given the extent of Ruby's injuries and the policies of this health center I cannot allow anyone other than immediate family to enter her room. I am sorry, but you two will either have to wait in the waiting room, or return to your dorm."

Blake and Weiss immediately lurched forward, outraged that they were being restricted from seeing their precious younger team leader when she needed them most, but one harsh glare from the receptionist silenced them. Forced to comply, Blake and Weiss exchanged a few words with Yang before retreating back to their dorm, such as "Make sure you tell that dolt we hope she gets better!" and "Let Ruby know that if she needs reading material, she need only ask." Yang nodded to them both before turning around to follow the receptionist to Ruby's room.

* * *

"So, Ruby, you gonna come out and tell me? Or am I going to have to pry it out of you?"

Ruby hesitated; Yang knew that she was hiding behind the pretense of the lie she told her over the scroll. She clung to the hope that if she played dumb that Yang would drop it, "What are you talking about? Pry what out of me?" It failed.

"Fine, be that way, say nothing. I'll do the talking. I talked to Ozpin, he didn't send you on a mission. Also, I checked with your doctor, your injuries matched past records of survivors of grim pack ambushes. I asked JNPR to comb the neighboring forests that are known to contain grim, they found Crescent Rose, it was nearly destroyed, they said it looked like someone loaded the firing chamber with dust, blowing the gun portion of the sniper scythe apart. They brought back as many parts of Crescent Rose back, but it'll take some time to make it like it was." Yang's demeanor slowly grew more somber as she spoke, the look of pure devastation and pain on her younger sister's face quickly dissipated her anger. Before she realized it, she was hugging a sobbing Ruby, who was clutching at her jacket with fierce abandon.

Yang began to pull away when she heard her baby sister start to calm down, but was pulled back as the younger girl clung to her. Ruby took in a shuddering breath before letting it back out in an equally uneven manner. "I-it hurt so much … I … I couldn't even feel those grim ripping into my flesh, nor did I feel any remorse after lighting that dust inside my baby. I was in so much pain I didn't even know what I was doing, I barely remember anything after the roof-" Ruby cut herself off before she said too much.

"What roof? What happened on the roof, Ruby?"

The fear that sparked in the younger girls eyes caused orbs of darkness to nearly eclipse pools of liquid mercury. The younger girl began to flail, desperately trying to take attention away from the events that transpired on the roof of the lecture hall. However, much like the rest of this conversation, nothing went her way. "Ruby, what happened to you on the roof? Does it have something to do with why you only let me inside? Does it have something to do with why you asked the receptionist keep Blake and Weiss out of your room? You can tell me anything Ruby …"

Ruby was at a loss of what to do in this situation. She could either tell Yang everything and risk not only damaging her relationship with her sister over her sexuality, but also she risked ruining Yang's relationship with Blake, her combat partner. Or she could continue to lie to one of the last members of her family and risk ruining the trust they shared between one another. Ruby decided to go halfway towards both options, telling a half-truth-half-lie.

"Earlier today … I confessed my feelings to my crush-"

"Who?"

"I'm not going to tell you … but its not like it matters … they didn't- … they don't return my feelings. They said that I needed to wake up to reality, that I was living in a fairy tale, like some little kid …"

Yang could feel the heartache in her younger sister's voice as she broke down. Two emotions battled for expression within the older girl, possessive rage over Ruby against whoever rejected her younger sister and who was causing her so much pain, and her mother-like instincts to comfort her baby sister. But considering that Ruby refused to mention the name of whoever her crush was, she had little hope in having someone to vent her rage onto, with her rage lacking a viable target it quickly dissipated in the face of a crying Ruby. She would console her baby-sister, even if she knew that she wasn't being told the whole truth.

"Shhh, its okay Ruby … Hey, if they're not into you then it their loss … You are the most talented, badass, cute, and awesome person I know, Ruby. Honestly, they don't know what they're turning down …"

The younger girl clung to the older girl once more, this time grasping for the warmth and support that her older sister offered her.

"Thanks, Yang."

* * *

 **Chapter End**

 **After post comment: I'm finding it rather hard to adhere to my own schedule of once weekly releases. So to sate my own impatience, I'll probably be posting chapters twice a week or three times a week, depending on how well my integrity and self-restraint maintain.**


	2. Chapter 2

**It appears that I was unable maintain my restraint. I do appreciate the attention this work is getting and I thank all of you who have chosen to follow and favorite this work. I pray that i do not betray your expectations.**

 **Usual disclaimer, i am not attempting to lay claim to characters owned by Rooster Teeth.**

 **Lastly, this chapter is a little on the short side. Nonetheless, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 2**

* * *

It has been roughly six months since Ruby's incident. Even after all this time, Ruby has never shared with her team what exactly happened that night, only confiding in Yang when she needed support. At first she began to distance herself from her team, skipping out on team practices, distancing herself from the individual members of the team. No longer did she constantly try to gain Weiss' acknowledgement, instead taking whatever degrading comments the heiress would throw at her before moving on without even acknowledging Weiss' existence. This did not sit well with the heiress, Ruby's passive behavior only served to fuel the heiress' offensive comments. As the days passed by, Weiss' comments against Ruby grew in severity, bordering on full-blown harassment. Day in, day out, the Weiss-onslaught continued unabated. That was until Ruby hit her breaking point after an off-hand comment in the hallway after the last of their final exams. Ruby and Weiss were the last two to finish, and thus were walking back to their dorm, where Yang was waiting, alone.

"I don't know why Port doesn't just fail you right now, there is no need to grade your exam, I'm sure you didn't get a single question right anyway. After all, you're just a stupid, uneducated, scrawny brat who doesn't even belong here! Its about time you woke up to reality, Ruby!" Weiss was going to continue, but the shrill voice of her team leader cut her off.

"ENOUGH! Weiss! I've had enough! My life is hard enough without you constantly making it worse! I'm dealing with a lot right now, I've had my heart ripped out of my chest, my injuries from _that_ night never stop throbbing, and I'm terrified that I've ruined my relationship with the last of my family!" Weiss was utterly stunned by what she heard and was left gapping at her trembling team leader who was nearly in tears. Weiss' vocal chords were frozen solid, which was fortunate because Ruby was intent on continuing.

"And I don't need you reminding me that I don't belong here. If it weren't for Ozpin's insistence I would already be gone, back to Signal! I was planning on leaving! So you could be team leader, so my sister could finally live her own life! So Blake would never be forced to be around me any more!" Weiss could hardly believe what she was hearing, _Ruby had_ asked _Ozpin to send her back to Signal?_ _Ruby was truly trying to leave them? Leave Team RWBY?_ The thought terrified the heiress, for all her tough talk, she depended on Ruby greatly. During their time together, Weiss had quickly realized that Ruby was a true prodigy with immense talent to be a leader and if the heiress was being completely honest, she could imagine no one more suited to lead Team RWBY, nor would she trust anyone else in the position.

In the brief instance of silence when Ruby was catching her breath and desperately trying to hold in her tears, Weiss was able to quickly reflect on how she had been pushing Ruby towards her current state. _I've been hounding her day after day, for the last few months, but why did I do that? Was it because I just wanted her to react to me? To interact with me? Now look at what you've done Schnee, she's practically in tears … all because you don't know how to hold a normal conversation without tearing down her self-esteem …_

Ruby's shaking voice woke Weiss from the depths of her thoughts. "Trust me Weiss, I know I don't belong here. But please believe me when I say I'm doing everything in my power to give all of you a better life, one where I'm not in it! So just do us both a favor and leave m-" That was all Weiss could take, she knew she was not one to talk about insulting the younger girl, but the heiress could not stand to see the younger girl tearing _herself_ down. In that instant Weiss did the only thing she could think of to get the younger girl to stop talking and to snap her out of the self-deprecating rant she was on. She slapped the younger girl, _hard_ , across the face.

The tears in Ruby's eyes were now freely falling, as she clutched her now bright red cheek. In the younger girls eyes, the cold heiress could no longer stand the sound of her voice and slapped her to shut her up. Ruby had laid bare her heart and emotions and she was rejected, _again_. The aching in her heart threatened to steal her consciousness from her, but only succeeded in stealing her breath. Now the younger girl had lost her crush, her sister, and now her partner. There was nothing left to hold her here, she immediately turned to run away to Ozpin's office to beg to be sent back to Signal. But before she could activate her semblance, two arms snaked their way around the younger girl, pulling her back against a warm body. Ruby initially flinched at the contact, expecting to be hit for trying to leave rudely, but her fear quickly faded away when she realized that both the arms wrapped around her and the body she was forced to lean into was shaking. Warm dampness was quickly seeping into her cloak, slowly wetting her shoulder. Thoroughly confused, Ruby turned her head to look behind her, what she saw only confused her further, there standing with her arms wrapped around the younger girl was Weiss, sobbing into her shoulder from behind. Snot and tears alike were cascading down the beautiful heiress' face, staining it with running trails of eyeliner. Ruby could not think of a single reason for why Weiss would be crying, other than if she were shedding tears of joy, but such behavior would contradict Weiss' nickname of 'Ice Princess' and hence was impossible. Left to flounder for a reason behind Weiss' odd behavior, Ruby could only stand their and leave the to heiress cry out her sorrows on the younger girl's shoulder.

After a good while, Ruby's own tears had dried up and Weiss had finally calmed down enough to pick her head up and wipe away her ruined makeup. Ruby tried to distance herself from the older girl, but was held in place by the surprisingly strong grip of the older girl. Realizing that she was not going anywhere, Ruby instead moved to turn towards Weiss, and was pleased to find that Weiss allowed her to pivot without moving any further away. When their eyes finally met, Weiss let loose a groggily and hoarse laugh that scratched at her sore throat, the look of pure terror on the obviously terrified younger girl had somehow seemed funny to the heiress. Rather than alleviating Ruby of her fear, it only fueled it, Ruby began to shiver and close in on herself, mentally preparing herself for either a beating, or the worst verbal abuse she had ever heard. But the choked up voice that followed the laugh caught her off guard. "Ruby … I know that you have no reason to forgive me for what I've been doing to you for the past few months, but I want you to know that I am truly, terribly, and forever sorry. I don't deserve to be your teammate, and I don't deserve to be your partner."

"Wha-"

"Please, Ruby let me finish." The younger girl swallowed her sentence, and fear, and let the older girl continue. "Ruby, I grew up in a privileged life, where everything I wanted was given to me, no questions asked. In turn I never saw the need to interact with those around my age because they couldn't offer me anthing I didn't already have … I suppose it because of this upbringing that I never properly developed the ability to converse with those similar to me in age. It is because of this lack of conversational experience that I did what I did to you, all I ever wanted was for you and I to be friends, and I know I went about it completely wrong, and I know that I do not deserve to be forgiven for what I have put you through. But I just want you to know that I … I really look up to you Ruby. You are an amazing person, who is truly gifted, you are the youngest prodigy I have ever met and I could not imagine anyone more deserving of their position in this academy, nor as the leader of this team, myself included. I know that I have said unforgivable things to you, but please know that I truly did not mean a single word of it." Weiss' eyes were tearing up at this point; apparently she still had plenty of tears left to cry. "When I said to you that I would be the best teammate you would ever have, I had every intention on keeping that promise. I know that this last half year is eternal proof that I let you down, but I need you to know that from this day forward I will be the best teammate, the best partner … and the best friend you could ever hope for. I do not deserve your forgiveness, but if you'll let me and if you give me enough time, I will earn your trust and I will be someone you can turn to when you need support. I am sorry Ruby, I will not accept your forgiveness because I do not deserve it, but I ask that if anything it troubling you or if you just need to talk to someone, I will always be nearby to listen to and support you …"

Weiss held back her tears admirably, making one swipe across her eyes with her sleeve to soak up any tears that threatened to spill over. When she looked back at Ruby, her eyes shown with undeniable determination, and in that instant Ruby knew that the heiress meant every word she had said. The warmth of acceptance blossomed through her chest, the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders, and she felt like she could breath again. Then the pain she had been burying deep within herself resurfaced. The pain of her heartbreak and the throbbing pain of her scars from _that_ night slammed into her full force. The pain of both threatened to nearly topple the younger girl, had it not been for the firm grip on her shoulders by the heiress, she would have surely fallen. The emotional and physical pain shone through the younger girl's eyes clear as day, allowing the heiress to take one look at shimmering pools of liquid silver to see the younger girl's suffering. Without even uttering a single word, Weiss pulled the younger girl into a warm hug to let her know that she was no longer alone. With the realization that she had someone to lean on, the floodgates that held back Ruby's tears broke, allowing the young girl to pour out all of her pent up emotions that have been festering for half a year, and so there sat the young heiress to the infamous Schnee Dust Company holding her best and only friend as the younger girl wailed in pain, the older one desperately trying to keep her partner from shattering into a million pieces.

* * *

Over the coming months, Ruby and Weiss grew close. Ruby found that she was able to confide in Weiss anything that was bothering her and that Weiss seemed eternally grateful that Ruby had so readily placed trust in her. Not only did the two of them become the best of friends, but also their closeness translated to unparalleled cooperation in combat. The two of them very quickly ascended to the top position as the undefeated team in doubles matches. Even in matches between full teams, Team RWBY came out on top mostly due to the seamless coordination that Ruby and Weiss were capable of pulling off. Ruby was the unmatched close to medium range brawler who could easily hold her own and provide excellent support from the rear, while Weiss became the best dust wielder in the school. She was capable of creating glyphs and executing dust fueled attacks with lightning speed and accuracy, all the while maintaining superb effectiveness in close quarters with her rapier. When the both of these prodigies combined in doubles matches, their opponents were faced with unmatched dust firepower that was perfectly timed with the heavy impacts of a massive scythe propelled by the immense recoil of an absurdly high caliber rifle. All the while, Ruby could maintain an unbreakable defensive line that could move faster than most could react, to protect Weiss as she was casting a match ending dust attack. Or the unstoppable duo could switch roles, with Ruby firing that same high caliber rifle at their opponents from afar, with Weiss wrecking havoc on the opponent's formations with her dust-enhanced attacks on the front lines. In just a few months, Ruby and Weiss went from strained teammates who struggled to see eye to eye, to the two top students in the academy who could formulate elaborate battle formations on the fly without proper communication and two girls who had become the closest of friends, practically sisters.

* * *

 **Chapter End**


	3. Chapter 3

**Evidently my self-restraint is nearly** **nonexistent. As i re-read these chapters I find it harder and harder to not post them. I guess I'll probably end up posting a chapter each day, or multiple each day. I'm finding it much harder to hold back than i thought it would be.**

 **Usual disclaimer, I don't own any of these characters.**

 **A note about the story, we've seen Ruby and Weiss so far, now its Yang's turn.**

 **Nothing else to report, so enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 3**

* * *

Yang was not the 'dumb brute' she was always referred to as. In fact, after years of caring for her younger sister like a second mother, Yang had picked up the perceptive skills of a mother. Now this maternal skill that Yang had comprised one single flaw to it, it only worked on Ruby. Now while some people may call this a worthless skill considering it only works on one person, but to Yang it has been an indispensible tool that has been of immense use to her through the years. To her, this heightened perception aided her in being the best possible big sister in the world. However, this skill also has one other flaw to it. Seeing as this is a perceptive capacity that allows her to be able to take one glance at Ruby and be able to read all her emotions, fears, ambitions, and thoughts, it comes with a trade off. While Yang is able to read Ruby like an open book, like any loving parent would be able to do, she feels all of the younger girl's emotions in turn. So when Yang walked into Ruby's room in the infirmary the older girl needed only one look to feel the soul crushing emotions that were threatening to steal her baby sis from her. But this is where the problem arises; a proper parent has already seen the horrors of the world and knows how to deal with them, knows how to help their children deal with them, but Yang has no experience. So when she saw Ruby in such turmoil and pain, she was at an utter loss at how to help her younger sister. Yang felt Ruby's heartache at being rejected by her crush, Yang has never confessed to anyone, usually she was the one others confessed to. She would date them for a time before moving on in life, never finding someone that was capable of making her heart flutter in anticipation, let alone find someone that she so desperately wanted to be with that the very thought of rejection would crush her self-esteem. So she had no words of advice, no words of comfort to offer her sister in regards to her broken heart. Yang also felt Ruby's confusion; she could feel the indecision, the unshakable feeling of being lost in the world with no one to turn to for answers. Yang had always been there for Ruby, but the extent of her support could only go so far, Yang could only support Ruby to the capacity that the young woman could. How is she to help guide Ruby through the mysteries and mazes of life when she herself is in their midst, stumbling through the darkness and fumbling for a steady guide. She could not help Ruby when she could not help herself.

This angered Yang to no end. Here she was, 'Yang the best big sister in the world,' while she couldn't even do the only job that ever mattered to her, take care of Ruby. When Ruby's mother died, Yang swore to herself that she would watch over Ruby in her mother's place, and help her along in her mother's place. Yet here she was, crying in the gym bathroom alone, because she was frustrated at her own inability to help her sister. Her own helplessness tormented her, every night she was plagued with nightmares about Ruby fighting in some place and falling in battle, but her body was always just out of reach. In these nightmares Ruby was always close enough for Yang to be able to smell the younger girls natural rosy scent, but never close enough to feel the warmth of life radiating from her body, nor was she ever close enough to feel that same warmth slowly seep from her body as she lay dying, just out of reach. Every night, Yang would wake with a start, her hands balled up in the sheets in white-knuckled fists, sweat coating her brow, and her breathing ragged. And every night, Yang would hop off her elevated bed as quietly as she could and trot over to her sister's bed, to peer up at the younger girl's sleeping face. She found peace in seeing her beloved baby sister so at peace, and it always quelled her pounding heart and cooled the slick film of sweat that coated her body. She would stand there for hours, watching her precious baby sister sleep, while occasionally brushing the younger girl's hair from her face or humming an old lullaby if Ruby developed a pained expression. This continued for months, Yang was plagued with her frustration and nightmares for months on end, but only through the grace of those long quiet nights where she watched over her baby sister's sleeping form, was she able to keep her sanity.

* * *

For the first few months, the pain Yang felt in her heart when she looked at Ruby grew in severity. Yang felt she had no right to complain about this pain, for she knew that any pain she felt, Ruby was feeling ten times over. The worst part for Yang was the fact that she could do nothing for Ruby, the younger girl was in such pain and suffering so much while all she, her _big sister_ , could do was watch as the rampant emotions that were tearing through her baby sister, slowly killed off the happy-go-lucky, fun loving, cheerful girl that Yang had come to love and cherish so dearly. It was killing her inside. In the wake of her helplessness, Yang was unaware that she was slowly distancing herself from Ruby, and in turn twisting the knife in both of their hearts. In some twisted sense of responsibility, Yang had determined that the pain she was feeling was her retribution for failing to uphold the promise she had made to her step-mother, Summer Rose, to protect and watch over the younger girl. Blinded by her own self-loathing, Yang became unaware of the fact that the pain both Ruby and herself were feeling was being amplified by Yang's increasing distance from Ruby. This increased pain would thus fuel Yang's feelings of helplessness that in turn drove her further and further away from Ruby. Trapped in a vicious cycle, fueled by self-loathing and frustration, Yang fell into a dark place devoid of all light or hope.

* * *

This descent continued for six months, until one evening when Ruby and Weiss came back from their final exam together. For the first time in what felt like a decade, Yang felt relief radiating off her little sister. She could still feel the pain that was buried deep within Ruby's heart, but at this moment the dark cloud of depression that had covered the bright and optimistic sun, that was her little sister, was gone. For the first time in _six_ months, Yang saw her precious baby sister smile, truly and earnestly. It shined with such brilliance that all of Ruby's previous broken, fake smiles seemed to fade from her memory, Yang found herself smiling right back at her precious baby sister before she could even register the flexing of her facial muscles. But Yang's elation was short lived, Ruby's smile was no longer directed at her, instead Ruby was smiling at the heiress standing beside her. Yang watched on as Ruby proceeded to hug Weiss with such ferocity, that all Yang could do was sit there and watch her heart shatter. She saw Ruby whisper in Weiss' ear a " _thank you,"_ before separating from the heiress. Yang's shattered heart and mind could only repeat over and over again, the same line of thought.

 _She doesn't need you, a failure of a big sister she has Weiss. Weiss brought back her smile, not you. Weiss saved your sister, while you only sat on the sidelines crying and feeling sorry for yourself. She doesn't need you she has Weiss. Weiss is ten- no one hundred times the big sister you could ever hope to be. She doesn't need you anymore. She doesn't need you anymore …_

As Ruby moved past Yang, completely oblivious the turmoil brewing within her elder sister's heart, she did not even look at the older girl, who Ruby thought she had estranged by lying to her in the infirmary all those nights ago. Before Ruby even made it to her bed where the newly repaired Crescent Rose lay waiting for maintenance, Yang shot out of the room with tears in her eyes.

* * *

Later that same night, after all of the other dorm members had gone to sleep, Yang crept back into Team RWBY's room. Much to her relief and disappointment, Weiss and Ruby were in bed, asleep, and Blake was missing. She was relieved that she didn't have to explain her earlier behavior to anyone, but at the same time she was disappointed that no one worried about her enough to wait for her return before going to bed. Yang quickly disrobed and got into her sleep attire, but she knew that she was not going to go to sleep tonight, her heart was too fragile, she would not be able to endure another one of her nightmares after what she had seen today. So she quietly picked up one of the desks from the far side of the room, set it next to Weiss' bed and then set a chair on top of the desk, the elevation of the chair reaching perfectly up to Ruby's suspended bed. When Yang sat down on the precariously perched chair, she peered through the darkness of the room at her sleeping baby sister; much to her dismay she saw Ruby's face, stained with tears and snot. Pure liquid rage boiled in her veils, making her otherwise soothing lilac irises seethe an angry blood red. The look on Ruby's face betrayed her stress and pain, the younger girl's brow was furrowed and she was gnawing on her lower lip, a thin trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth due to the micturition of her lip, staining the pillow beneath her head. The sight crushed Yang's heart, instantly cooling her boiling blood and quelling her rage. In an effort to soothe the sleeping girl, Yang began to quietly hum an old lullaby; one that Yang remembers hearing from an angelic voice that always appeared when she and Ruby would curl up together to go to bed when they were younger. While humming the nearly inaudible tune, Yang began to stroke Ruby's head, moving any stray hair from her face and combing through the younger girl's short hair with her hand. The motion was incredibly soothing to the sisters, Ruby's sleeping form relaxed at the touch, and Yang felt months of anxiety and frustration melt away with every stroke. Yang nearly fell into a deep slumber at the rhythmic strokes through Ruby's hair, at least that was until a hushed voice cut through the deafening silence.

"Ahem …" Yang froze like a dear in the headlights; she turned to her right to see a white haired heiress looking up at her in her PJ's. Yang had not had a solid conversation with anyone for months, not since _that_ night, and hence was at a loss for words when the heiress stared at her expectantly. Weiss seemed to pick up on the fact that Yang was not going to respond and decided to speak first.

"Yang … I was going to ask what the dust you were doing … but now I see that you were just watching over your sister."

"…" Yang's vocal chords seemed to remain frozen, much like her rigid posture in the chair. Since Weiss first broke the silence, the blonde had yet to move.

"Yang … I … I need to talk to you, do you think you could separate from Ruby for a few minutes to talk with me?" It struck Yang as odd that Weiss was asking to speak with her, rather than demanding. But Yang's mind was still in a slightly shocked state and could not allocate enough mental capacity to contemplate the significance of the difference. So Yang jumped down from the chair, landing on the hardwood flooring on silent feet, when Weiss stared at her with a shocked expression Yang could only shrug and whisper in response, "being partnered with a Cat-Faunus helped me to pick up a few tricks." Weiss nodded in understanding and motioned for Yang to follow her to the bathroom, where they could talk in slightly less hushed voices.

The moment the door to the bathroom closed, Weiss spoke, "Yang, I must apologize to you. I've already spoke to Ruby and somehow she found it in her heart to forgive me, so now I'm apologizing to you." Yang was confused, but dare not interrupt the heiress. "I have been harassing Ruby for the past few months-"

"What? What did you just say?" Yang's blood began to boil once more, her hands balling into fists, but the look of crushing sorrow in Weiss' eyes stayed her hand.

"I wanted Ruby and I to become closer, so I started trying to talk to her, but when I said something mean to her she started to ignore me. That frustrated me, I was just trying to interact with her, albeit in the completely wrong way, but she was just ignoring me. Before I realized it I was hounding her day and night, saying anything I could think of to get a reaction out of her. I didn't even realizing I was bullying her, perpetually driving her into a corner … She asked Ozpin to send her back to Signal. She tried to leave Beacon, all because I was incapable of talking to her like a normal human being. I promised Ruby that I would be the best teammate, partner and friend to her from her on out. I felt like you, as Ruby's big sister, should know what I have been doing to her and ask you for your forgiveness. However, I know that I do not deserve any forgiveness for what I have done, instead I will earn your and Ruby's forgiveness." Yang was shocked, she considered herself one of the only people who kept tabs on her younger sister, yet she had no recollection of Ruby ever going to Ozpin's office, nor could she remember a single instance of when Weiss had said something mean to Ruby. That was until reality hit her like a solid punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of her.

 _Have I distanced myself from her to the point where I was oblivious to Weiss bullying her? I was so engrossed in my own suffering that I didn't even notice my teammate bullying my little sister! I am a failure of a big sister!_

Weiss' voice cut through Yang's self-deprecating monologue, "She and I talked for a bit, you know … we talked about that night she disappeared, what happened in the forest, and what you two talked about in the infirmary …" Yang's already shattered heart was splintering further, what had transpired between herself and Ruby that night in the infirmary was something between sisters, and certainly was not something that Yang expected Ruby to share with someone outside of the family, let alone with Weiss. It crushed her heart to think that Ruby trusted Weiss more than her. Again, Weiss' voice broke Yang from her train of thought. "She thinks the world of you, she really does … but she's scared that she has ruined her relationship with you. She tells me that nearly every night she dreams about you stroking her hair and humming her mother's lullaby to her, like you used to when you both were younger. She tells me that on those nights all her worries melt away, but when she wakes up to find that it was all a dream, she has put in her all to hold back her tears. She thinks that you hate her-"

"I don't! Why would she think that?!" The earnest shock and confusion on Yang's face made Weiss reel back. If Weiss was being completely honest, which is an additional promise she made to herself to be, she had thought the worst of Yang when she heard about why Ruby thought she had lost her sister. But the honest emotions on Yang's face and her reaction to her words made the heiress realize that the distance that had spanned between these siblings was all based of an exaggerated misunderstanding. Relief swept through the heiress, she had hoped that Ruby was mistaken, that Yang was not distancing herself from Ruby out of disgust, but had resolved herself to expect the worst possible scenario and to be there for Ruby in the event that the worst truly did happen. But now that she knew that Yang did not resent Ruby, Weiss' felt a soul crushing weight lift from her shoulders. Weiss peered back into Yang's lilac eyes, fear and confusion running rampant just beneath their surfaces. Weiss knew that Yang truly was confused, but she felt that she needed to test her nonetheless, if for no other reason than to extract some retribution on the older girl for hurting Ruby so.

"Do you truly not, Yang? She told me that you hardly even speak to her lately … That you avoid her all day, only spending time in her presence when it is necessary, which is only during class. She told me that you resent her for lying to you … she told me why she lied to you, and to be honest I don't blame her for it. She chose the team and your happiness over her own. How, as an older sister, can you torture her so? How can you stomach to see her tears fall every day? Or do you just avert your gaze? Do you turn your back on your younger sister? Ignoring her suffering and let it slowly kill her from within? How can you call yourself her sister when she is in pain everyday, while you go about your happy little life without a care in the world, and you do _nothing_ to help her!? Tell me Yang! How?! How do you do it?! How could you _abandon_ her like that?!" Hushed voices were long since forgotten, Weiss had tried to keep her voice even, but the memory of Ruby sobbing on her shoulder brought out a side of herself that she had never seen. Just looking at Yang made her blood boil in rage, she took out all her pent up feelings on Yang, hitting her where Weiss knew she was weakest. Her shrill voice struck hard and true against Yang, the force of the impact knocked the air from her lungs, again. Her mind was in shambles, her heart was a stuttering mess, her eyes were trying to pour out tears, but were failing due to Yang's emotionally broken state. In the face of such overwhelming emotional stress Yang lost all control over her semblance, an intense heat haze began to radiate off the girl, her tears evaporated the moment they fell from her eyes, Weiss began to sweat in the wake of such an extreme jump in temperature. With nothing left to keep the blonde in check, all hell broke loose. Yang, balling her hand into a fist, slammed her bare knuckles against the mirror over the sink, sending shards of glass flying across the room, Weiss covered her face and neck from the sharp projectiles with her arm, while Yang stood in defiance as the impossibly sharp slivers of glass attempted to slashed and cut into her flesh. Had it not been for her flaring semblance, which softened the flying glass and dulled its edges, she would have suffered innumerable cuts and scrapes. Yang had finally snapped, vented her immediate anger on the mirror, and turned to Weiss with blood infused eyes. Only one thing betrayed the blonde's apparent rage, her eyes were brimming with tears that threatened to fall with even the slightest of disturbances.

Yang, also forgetting the time of night, bellowed out at Weiss, "Because I don't know how to help her! I feel her pain as if it was my own, but I don't know how to help her. I don't know what to say after heartbreak, I don't know what to say to make her feel at ease. I don't know what I am supposed to do to help her! I am a failure of a sister, Ruby deserves someone who will be there for her, who can help her through her pain, who cares for her deeply … someone like you, Weiss … today, when you came back with Ruby I saw my baby sis' smile for the first time in months. You brought back that smile. You did, not me. All I could do was wallow in my own despair and inflict even more pain on her, as she sunk deeper and deeper … I was so frustrated at my own shortcomings as her sister that I distanced myself from her thinking that she would prefer someone who could be a better sister than I ever could. I could never hate her, ever! She is my precious, badass, baby sis' and I love her to death; but I thought that she didn't need me anymore! Also, what the hell is this talk of going back to Signal?! I can't think of a single person more deserving of their position here, and I would gladly give up my acceptance to this academy if it meant she could stay … and so what if she lied to me? I am prepared to wait until she feels comfortable enough to tell me the truth, for all eternity is need be. I could never hate her over something as insignificant as a lie, regardless of what it was about, and you said that she had good reason to keep the truth from me? Fine! I trust Ruby with my life, I trust her judgment, if she thinks its best to keep certain truths from me then so be it, like I already said I trust Ruby with my life-"

"But not with your own insecurities?" Weiss felt the wholehearted intent behind Yang's outburst, but she felt it necessary to help her teammate through this, even if the means of help was rather crass.

Yang's eyes faded back to lilac, her fist hung limp by her side dripping blood from her knuckles, but her semblance was still on full blast, thus causing the blood to evaporate into brown-reddish dust that slowly drifted towards the tiled bathroom floor. The silence that hung between them following Weiss cutting off Yang's rant, was sliced through by Yang's hoarse and broken voice. "I had one job to do … watch over Ruby and be the best big sister in the world. I made that promise to Ruby's mother, Summer Rose, shortly before she died. All I had to do was watch over her … and I failed-" Yang was cut off once more, but this time not by Weiss, but by a body slamming into her with superhuman speed. The foreign body seemed to wrap itself around the Yang, pulling her into a vice-like hold. Yang was about to raise her still bleeding fist to strike down whatever had decided that now was the best time to cling to her, until she heard an all too familiar sniffle, and smelled the gentle, caressing scent of roses.

Ruby had been woken up by Yang's destruction of the mirror and immediately raced to the bathroom to find out why she heard and incredibly distraught Yang. Upon stumbling across the two women in the bathroom Ruby was nearly brought to tears to see the state her sister was in. First off, was the fact that Yang's semblance was flaring dangerously, something that only happened when Yang had either been struck down _hard_ , or when she lost her self-control and let her emotions run rampant. What Ruby heard come from her beloved sister's mouth nearly broke her heart, she could hardly hold herself back from interrupting this obviously private conversation between Yang and Weiss. But once Yang mentioned Summer, the flood gates that held back both Ruby's tears and upheld her self-restraint crumbled into nothingness, allowing her tears to flow like rivers and drove her to fling the bathroom door open and vault into Yang to give her a bone crushing hug that Ruby hoped would convey all her emotions to Yang.

At her wits end, Yang desperately clung to the now crying Ruby, whispering soothing nothings into her ear while stroking her head to calm her down. Weiss watched the two, silently crying at the heartwarming sight of the two sisters trying to express all their love and devotion through the singular hug they were sharing. The heiress dared not interrupt their hug, but also dared not leave the room. She had made a promise to Ruby to always be there for her, and should things get heated after this hug, the younger girl would surely need someone to support her.

As Ruby slowly began to calm down, she pulled away from the older girl, reaching up to her face to wipe away the tears and snot. Before she could get away, Yang snaked her off-hand around Ruby's back pulling back against her and used her other hand to wipe Ruby's eyes for her, and pulling the hem of her own shirt up to Ruby's nose before gently whispering to Ruby, " _blow_." Ruby was hesitant at first, but one look into Yang's own teary eyes told the younger one that the older girl was dead serious, so she blew her nose into her elder sisters shirt. Yang used the adjacent fabric of her shirt to wipe away any last specs of snot from her younger sister's nose before pulling Ruby's head against her shoulder, squeezing one final time before letting go of the younger girl completely. Ruby seemed to be at a loss for words and did not know what to say so Yang, ever the big sister decided to speak for the both of them. "Ruby … I know I haven't been there for you for the past few months, and its my own fault because I didn't know how to help you through your pain. I felt useless and worthless, like I didn't deserve to be your big sister, and that my inexperience with dealing with the kind of pain you were experiencing would only make it worse and make you feel like you had no one to turn to for help. I didn't realize that by distancing myself from you, that I was doing just that. I know that I failed both you and Mom by not being there for you, but just know that from now on, even if I don't know how to help you, I will never abandon you again. I will be right here," Yang reached out the squeeze Ruby's hands firmly, "to help you in any way that I can."

By the time Yang finished, Ruby could speak again. The younger girl had a furrowed brow that betrayed her confusion and opened her mouth to speak out against a contradiction she heard flutter through Yang's mouth. "Y-yang, you weren't the one distancing yourself from me, I was _trying_ to put distance between the two of us …"

Yang's own brow furrowed at Ruby's admission, "Why?"

"I … I thought that you ha- … I thought that you were disgusted with me. I thought you figured out why I asked the infirmary receptionist to only allow you into the room. I thought that when I said that my crush rejected me, that you connected the dots and found out that my crush was one of our teammates …" Yang's mind snapped back to the conversation of that night, had her mind been a little clearer that night and not so filled with worry over Ruby, she may have made such an obvious connection. But then her mind snapped back to the present, _Why would Ruby think that her having a crush on Weiss or Blake would disgust me? Unless …_

"Ruby you had a crush on a girl? On one of our teammates no less?" Ruby could only nod. Fear and anxiety wracked through her body. She instinctually took a step towards Weiss, and away from Yang. But Yang immediately took a step towards Ruby, maintaining their close proximity.

"Ruby … I love you. You are my baby sis' who I adore. Does who you choose the love change who you are?" Ruby shook her head, "then how could I ever hate you for simply finding love in another person?" Ruby's eyes began to tear up once more, but these were tears of joy and acceptance. "Ruby … you will always be my sister, regardless of whether the claimer of your heart or a man or a woman. I could never hate you, ever. Please don't think that you have to pretend to be something you are not in front of me, 'cause I will continue to love you, always and forever." The speed at which Yang closed the gap between them rivaled Ruby's semblance, the older girl grasped the younger, smaller girl firmly to her chest, trying squeezing the pain and suffering out of her and to replace it with her love. The hug lasted for what felt like an eternity to the both of them. Sisterly sniffles eventually subsided and were replaced with content sighs, full of love and forgiveness. After an unknown amount of time, Ruby broke from the hug, leaving her dominant hand firmly wrapped around her big sister. Her off-hand extended out to the lone heiress who was silently watching the sisters, with tears of pure happiness streaming down her face. Weiss stared at the younger girl's hand for a moment before comprehending what she was being invited to partake in. As the heiress reached out to take hold of Ruby's hand, Yang stepped forward and slung her arm around Weiss' neck, pulling her into the hug. There the three women stood conveying their love for each other through physical contact rather than words. Each of them promising themselves that they would lay down everything for the happiness and well-being of those wrapped in their arms.

* * *

The two half-sister who were admitted into Beacon academy simultaneously, despite differing in age by two years, were the closest of sisters. They nearly spent their entire lives together, learning each other's habits and mannerisms. Naturally this allowed them to achieve unheard of synchronization in combat. But after a certain event at the end of their second year, the two of them became infinitely closer. Ruby and Weiss quickly ascended the ranks as the best paired team for combat. The only combination that could rival such a pair was one that could never challenge the pair registered as the best, because the best of the best that defended the number two slot in terms of victories was Ruby and Yang. By the end of the first semester of their third year, Ruby, Weiss and Yang had become the pinnacle of combat effectiveness within Beacon academy, while their collective academic grades were incredibly high due to Ruby's inherit genius nature, and Weiss's diligent academia career, Yang most definitely lowered their collective average. But for what Yang lacked in book-smarts, she more than made up for in fighting ability. While Ruby and Weiss dominated the pair rankings, Yang's new found drive to become someone who would never be defeated caused her to skyrocket to number one in the solo division. Yang, for the sake of becoming the best person qualified to watch over her genius younger sister and to earn her position as one of the few people Ruby trusted to watch her back in a fight, dedicated her all to bettering herself in combat. Those nightmares that haunted Yang for all those months, turned into an the most effective motivation that drove Yang to perfect her fighting style, and become an unrivaled fighter within Beacon academy, all the while serving as a constant reminder of her past mistakes and ensuring that she never repeat them and hurt the most important person to her, Ruby.

* * *

 **Chapter End**


	4. Chapter 4

**While i don't have a lot of experience writing works on this site, I am both incredibly surprised and grateful for the attention and support this work is receiving. Seeing as how this work is already completed, I hope that it will play out in a way that does not disappoint.**

 **Usual disclaimer, I do not own any characters created and owned by Rooster Teeth.**

 **Lastly, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 4**

* * *

It was now the start of the second semester of the third year for Team RWBY. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang had pulled off an incredible transformation over summer break of their second year. The three of them had become as close as family, seemingly over night. Over the few months that made up the first semester of their third year, all of them progressed at astounding rates, claiming the number one positions in a number of ranked divisions. Yang climbed to the top of the leader board for the solo division surpassing even Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby and Weiss became the reining champions of the doubles division with a record of all victories and no defeats, and Team RWBY as a whole had jumped up a number of ranks in the teams division. Team RWBY was currently on par with several of the midlevel teams of the year ahead of them.

All this progress started with a confession on a rooftop that occurred during the first semester of the second year. That confession marked the start of the fall of Team RWBY, but also sparked its rebirth.

* * *

Blake Belladonna has lead a very rough life, the life of a Faunus is never easy, let alone if a they were present during the tainting and corruption of the White Fang and its transition from peaceful protests to extreme interventions. To uphold such a righteous cause and watch as every effort is disregarded and thrown away like trash is a suffering few can imagine and fewer still can withstand. To fight against the ever stoic and unforgiving standards of society is a battle few have ever won, and fewer see their efforts making a difference through history. Some are incapable of maintaining such pure motives and many eventually succumb to the corruption of hatred. From this hatred brews animosity, and from this animosity springs forth the desire to do harm, to make yourself be heard by force if necessary. Those who succeeded the leadership of the White Fang already had this animosity and anger festering within their hearts, thus when the focus of the previously docile protestors took on a more criminal approach, many were simply swept along by the current of change. Blake Belladonna was one such innocent that lost herself in the cause. The mistakes of her past are ones she would never be able to rectify, her only hope at redemption was to atone for her sins by making the world a place where the innocence of children, both human and Faunus, remained in tact; and where blood shed is never an intentional outcome. Beacon academy was a literal beacon of hope to the young, scarred Faunus. Here she had hoped to forge a life for herself, one that was not built upon the suffering of others. She desperately wanted to experience a normal life, one that did not hinge on whether her teammates accepted her Faunus heritage. When her team had come to accept her for who she was and not focus on her line of origin, Blake was elated. Here she had found a group of people who would fight along side her without the thought of her heritage causing a wrinkle in their relationship.

Blake shares many happy memories with her team, but with the good comes the bad. Blake still remembers the heart stopping fear that coursed through her veins and all but halted her beating heart when her teammates discovered her involvement with the White Fang, and thus her heritage. But that memory was quickly fading, a newer and fresher mistake was taking its place. Just over one year ago, Blake made the biggest mistake she would ever come to regret, rejecting Ruby.

* * *

To Blake, whom had come to distrust those around her, and especially distrust those who held leadership positions, it was difficult for her to accept such a young and inexperienced girl as her team leader. However, years of playing the silent soldier in the White Fang forced her to grow accustomed to remaining silent when a situation did not agree with her preference, thus she gave no outward sign of discontent with Ruby being made team leader. Over the course of their first year at Beacon Academy, Ruby proved to Blake time and time again that she was just as deserving of her position as any within the school, and Blake had eventually come to accept Ruby as her teammate, and as her team leader. It was around this time of when Ruby had sprung forth her courageous confession to the older girl, and in the eyes of Blake, this act simply reset Blake's perception of Ruby. What she saw before her on that roof was not the fearless leader that had lead them through thick and thin without batting an eyelash, but a fragile, innocent, little girl who had no place on the battlefield. To see such a vulnerable side of this young girl who Blake had come to admire frustrated the raven-haired girl to no end.

If Blake was being completely honest with herself, she had come to look up to Ruby. Ruby was nearly two years younger than her, and still had been accepted to the most prestigious Hunter-Training academy in all of Remnant. That same girl wielded an incredibly unconventional weapon with such lithe and ease that Blake was often mesmerized in her movements whenever Ruby was participated in a match, although few among the audience would not be captivated by Ruby when she was in combat. Blake looked at Ruby and saw a pure soul, untainted by the darkness, but she also saw that that same pure soul dared to stare at the ugly side of the world and strive to see the good in all things, even if the only 'good' to be had was the lesser of two evils. To Blake, Ruby had become a new beacon of hope that motivated her to better herself so that she could support her in the future. But the confession destroyed all of that. Blake was frustrated at her own naivety for even thinking that such a pure soul could ever burn, unblemished, in the cruelty of the real world without harboring ulterior motives. She berated herself for imagining such grand fairy tales, and for falling into the false sense of security that they provide. And so, Blake rejected Ruby's feelings.

In hindsight, Blake hates how she handled the situation on the roof. She took the anger and loathing she felt for herself out on Ruby, spewing venomous words at the fragile girl. It was never Blake's intention to drive the young girl to get herself injured in heartbreak, and she had every intention on making things right with Ruby after that night. When Blake learned that Ruby had been admitted into the infirmary for injuries related to a grim attack, her innate admiration for the younger girl motivated her to fix her mistake, to let the girl know how much she looks up to her, and to let her down gently rather than crushing her heart with harsh words filled with malice. But a cheap excuse made by the receptionist of the infirmary prevented Blake from rectifying her mistake from earlier that day. Blake is an incredibly intelligent individual, she knew that the infirmary had no such policy, but stayed away because she could read Ruby's message very clearly, "don't come see me, I don't want to see you." So Blake made a silent promise to both herself and to Ruby that she would fix her mistake, whenever the first opportunity arose.

Unfortunately, Blake's opportunity never came. After Ruby had been discharged from the infirmary and given a very firm lecture from Ozpin about safety and caution, the young girl retreated into herself. Only maintaining a presence when it was absolutely necessary such as class, exams, and mandatory skirmishes. The young, heartbroken teen skipped out on every single optional activity, including their own private practices that they had been in the habit of holding three times a week. What exactly Ruby was doing when she was not at one of the three mandatory events, no one knew. Blake had tried to tail her once, but failed when Ruby noticed she was being followed, the younger girl's speed semblance simply could not be matched. This, however, did not discourage Blake, instead she scoured the entirety of Beacon to find where exactly the withdrawn teen hid herself from the world. Eventually, after weeks of searching, Blake found out where Ruby had been staying on her off time, the roof where Blake ruthlessly crushed her heart. Blake had a sneaking suspicion that Ruby was hiding here, but had hoped that she would never want to come here to relive the pain of rejection.

On the actual day when Blake found Ruby on this rooftop, it was lunchtime and Blake had forgone eating for the sake of having extra time to search for Ruby. When she found the younger girl, her heart clenched painfully and tripled in rate simultaneously, sending shooting pains through Blake's chest and a disturbing tingle down her left arm. There sat, teetering on the edge of the roof, a sobbing Ruby. Blake's immediate reaction was to lunge for the girl, in the hopes that she could pull her from the edge and prevent a fall that would surely kill her. But she stopped, she knew that if Ruby heard her coming, she would kick into Fight-or-Flight mode and thus increase the risk of her falling from the roof. The thought of Ruby falling over the edge and the mental image that followed that featured a mangled and blood corpse that resembled Ruby, lying motionless on the pavement several tens of flights down, caused a wave of nausea and hot flashed the wrack Blake's body. Which was actually the worst possible thing that could have happened. With a new sensation stirring within her stomach she instantly became aware of the fact that she was extremely famished. This overwhelming sense of hunger manifested itself in a surprisingly loud rumble from the onyx haired girl. Blake froze; she had been spying on Ruby from just within the door to the roof, crouched down at the top of the stairs and peeking through a gap between the door and doorframe. The silence that followed Blake's stomach growl instantly alerted Blake that her cover was blown, Blake's eye's snapped back to Ruby. The girl was no longer looking out over the edge of the roof, but had her head turned just enough for one of her eyes to fixate on the door. A lone shimmering pool of mercury wavered as it connected with Blake's own golden irises. For a brief instant neither of them moved, until Blake slowly began to stand. The slow motion was instantly recognized by Ruby as Blake about to approach her, which caused Ruby to activate her semblance and vault off the roof. From the ground a red streak could be seen sailing through the air between two buildings, before it ducked into an open window on the adjacent building several stories below the roof.

* * *

This pattern of Blake finding Ruby and Ruby persistently fleeing, continued until Blake lost all drive to seek the younger girl out, which was after nearly a month of trying to talk to her. Blake, realizing that trying to force communication would not work, elected to wait until Ruby was ready to talk to _her_. Unfortunately, this tactic failed to succeed either, Ruby took the space Blake had granted her and extended it to all of her friends and classmates. Ruby began to sit in a different seat each class, always choosing the one furthest from Blake and her team. She somehow managed to get her hands on a doctor's note to excuse her from all physical lessons and practical exams for the semester, and she coerced the professors to allow her to take her exams at times different than the rest of the class. This essentially resulted in the degradation of Team RWBY to a three-woman team that was in complete disarray and on the verge of dissolving.

Blake had never realized just how much Ruby had been balancing them all out. With no one else to criticize, Weiss began to chastise Blake and Yang for even the most miniscule mistakes, something that she used to subject Ruby to but the younger girl's chipper attitude would quickly dissuade the heiress of trying to bring her down. This constant criticism strained the relationships within the team, causing discord that manifested in the team's communication as well as their synchronization. Yang's headstrong approach proved to be nearly impossible to cooperate with, the blonde was extensively accustomed to being the brawler in a fight, which allowed Blake and Weiss little opportunity to provide support. Again, Ruby's life-long experience of being with Yang had taught her exactly how to fight with the brutish blonde, which in turn gave Weiss and Blake small but discernable cues as to when to jump in engage in the fight. Blake's standoff-ish attitude and approach to a fight was nearly the exact opposite of teamwork. The raven-haired Faunus was used to playing the role as a silent assassin and running covert operations for the White Fang. As a result, when it came to teamwork, the raven-haired girl was nearly clueless without proper instructions. Ruby had an excellent battle sense and could instantly evaluate both sides in a fight and make the best choice of combinations and formations. Without Ruby constantly issuing orders through their encoded vocal callouts, Blake had difficulty acclimating to the approaches of her other two teammates. This also extended to both Weiss and Yang, without Ruby calling the shots their teamwork was non-existent and their formations were in complete disarray.

The physical loss of Ruby within their team was one that was impossible to replace. The younger girl was truly an astounding fighter that was key in almost every situation. Ruby's speed semblance, when combined with the recoil of her high-caliber rifle and her strength that developed from swinging such a large and heavy weapon, allowed her to play the role of the ever dynamic all-rounder who could just as easily hold the front lines, maintain a line of defense through mid-ranged battle, or provide strategic long-range support with pinpoint accuracy. Ruby truly was a prodigy. Her innate skills when combined with her mastery of a highly unconventional weapon made her a force to be reckoned with, one that was essential to the smooth running of Team RWBY.

Weiss and Yang, for reasons unknown to Blake, did not seem to notice Ruby's absence. When Blake once brought up Ruby's behavior to Yang, the blonde responded by staring at the faunus-girl with a pained expression that bordered on tears. The bloodshot eyes cupped with sagging bags clearly indicated that the blonde had not been sleeping well, and certainly did not help the blonde's approachability. Blake thus elected to not mention Ruby to Yang for the next few days. When Blake mentioned Ruby's behavior to Weiss, the heiress launched into a heated rant that, in Blake's mind, went way to far in terms of insulting and degrading the missing, younger girl. Blake nearly slapped the heiress when a string of curses intermingled with extremely colorful language passed through Weiss's lips, all in regards to their young team leader, but she didn't. Blake feared what would happen to their already strained relationship if she struck her.

With no one left to talk to Blake began to reflect within herself. Looking back on the past and her brief but deeply rooted history with the young team leader. Blake thought of every greeting she got when she returned to the dorm after extra practice, Ruby would always drop what she was doing whether it was studying, playing games, or cleaning Crescent Rose, to come up and greet Blake and welcome her back to the dorm. Blake thought fondly back on this particular memory, after having returning to the dorm many times since then and not even been giving the slightest of acknowledgements, the raven-haired girl had come to miss Ruby's enthusiastic greetings.

Another memory that shimmered on the surface of Blake's mind was Ruby's constant attempts to plan activities for the team. While this may seem like a simple idea, Ruby always made sure to pick some sort of activity that everyone would enjoy. Once, Ruby decided on the weekend that they would all be going to see a movie that contained action – for Yang, graceful and high-end actors – for Weiss, and was based on a book – for Blake. While the movie was second rate at best, the attempt to appease everyone on her team was a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Blake.

Ruby also once took them to the arcade in town, Yang had somehow managed to convince Weiss to challenge her in a fighting game which lit the fire of Weiss' competitive spirit, the two of them disappeared into the arcade and were not seen until they exhausted all of Weiss' incredibly deep pockets of spending money. Ruby, on the other hand had chosen to play only a handful of games, one racing game, one fighting game and one attempt at the claw machine. She then slowly walked over to Blake, who was sitting down on a bench by the restrooms, looking bored and uninterested at all the arcade had to offer. The younger girl, without uttering a single word, grabbed Blake's hand and led her out of the arcade and to the building right next door. Much the Blake's surprise this new location had turned out to be a rather well hidden bookstore that contained a large number of incredibly rare and hard to find books and series. In hindsight, Blake noted that the time that she and Ruby spent in that bookstore, which was a couple of hours, could very easily constitute as a date. Blake had half a mind to consider that Ruby was banking on the fact that Yang and Weiss would disappear into the arcade, leaving the two of them to enjoy a pseudo-date alone. Regardless of Ruby's intentions behind the trip, Blake found herself feeling grateful to Ruby for always considering her in her planned team outings.

The next memory that surfaced in Blake's mind was a certain incident that occurred a few months back. During the second week of break between their first and second semesters at beacon, Team RWBY had been out on a training exercise organized by Beacon Academy, the exercise was optional to students over break, but Team RWBY had decided to go on at least one exercise regimen, for the experience. During the mission a group of upperclassmen, which typically serve as the recon group that reports on grim numbers and locations for the underclassmen to fight to accumulate battle experience, went missing. The professors who were overseeing the whole operation sent out all three participating teams of underclassmen to help locate their seniors. Team RWBY had the most unfortunate luck of finding them, or rather what was left of them. The entire team had been incapacitated or gravely wounded by a trio of Deathstalkers. One of the three massive grim had suffered substantial damage but still possessed ample strength to continue on, while the other two were completely unscathed. Immediately Ruby ordered them to engage, Blake and Yang were to hold off the three Deathstalkers, while she and Weiss would collect their unconscious seniors. Ruby instructed Yang to provide mid-range projectile support to delay the grim's advance, with Blake serving as the decoy with her semblance to slow them down. Weiss used glyphs to transport the upperclassmen while Ruby contacted the professors and issued orders to her team. Immediately after the upperclassmen were transported a safe distance away, with Weiss acting as the last line of defense for the unconscious seniors, Ruby returned to assist Yang and Blake. Upon returning she found Blake lying face down on the ground, a dark bruise quickly developing on the side of her head and she was groaning in pain. Yang had snapped and charged the three Deathstalkers, only to be swatted aside without mercy. The force exerted on the blonde was easily enough to trigger her last resort, causing her hair to flicker and shine like a solar flare and her eyes to glow an eerie blood red. However, even with Yang's semblance enhanced strength she could do little to halt the advance of _three_ Deathstalkers, after all she was only a single person. The other two advanced on the downed faunus. Ruby, left with no other option, intercepted the two grim. Ruby managed to land several well-placed shots on the forefront of one of the Deathstalkers body, shooting out its eyes and blinding it in the process. But the second one learned from the mistakes of its comrade and shielded its eyes with it massive claws. Ruby exhausted the rest of her clip into the defending grim, only to fail to have a single shot break through. The instant the empty clip dropped from Crescent Rose, the Deathstalker roared to life and charged, only it wasn't charging at Ruby, but rather Blake who was nearby. The Deathstalker was upon the unaware faunus in an instant and was reeling back with its stinger full of potent and lethal toxins. In a final act of desperation Ruby activated her semblance and used her body to push Blake out of the path of the stinger.

Unfortunately, this placed Ruby in the direct line for the strike. Incredibly, Ruby's smaller frame constituted a smaller target, causing the stinger's aim to be off, resulting in an indirect hit on the younger girl where the stinger grazed her thigh. The cut extended from one side her the girl's thigh to the other and was deep enough to nick the femoral artery, for the brief duration that the stinger was in Ruby's flesh it was able to inject a small proportion of the stinger's venom into her leg. The wound combined with the highly destructive affects of the venom caused excruciating pain to erupt in the young girl's leg, which caused her to release a blood-curdling cry of anguish and pain. Upon hearing the piercing shriek of her team leader, Blake snapped from her dazed state and immediately noticed that there was a Deathstalker straddling the one who sounded like Ruby and had its stinger impaled into something near the younger girl, Blake was not sure of the state of her team leader due to the massive body of the Deathstalker breaking her line of sight. Blake can still remember the feeling of her heart constrict in such extreme fear over the possibility of seeing Ruby impaled on the Deathstalker's stinger, even recalling the events caused the same paralyzing sensation to course through her body. When she found that the stinger had missed, somewhat, and found Ruby lying in a puddle of liquid that mirrored her namesake, having fainted from pain and blood loss, Blake was both relieved and enraged. She was relieved that Ruby was alive and not impaled, but was also enraged when she saw what the grim had done to her team leader. Luckily for Blake the professors arrived on site the moment she moved to engage the Deathstalker that was looming over an unconscious Ruby. The full-fledged Hunters and Huntresses that were the professors quickly dispatched the grim and began treating the wounded. Ruby was given an antidote for the poison, and her leg was sterilized, stitched and dressed. Blake volunteered to carry Ruby back to camp, but instead handed her off to Yang when the blonde hobbled over to cradle her unconscious sister with tears in her eyes. Ruby would forever have that scar that ran horizontally across her mid thigh and that stretched from her inner thigh all the way around to the area of skin directly opposite of the scar's starting point. Blake would sometimes see the scar when Ruby walks around the dorm in shorts after having woken up in the morning. It has forever haunted Blake that she never got the opportunity to properly repay the younger girl for saving her life.

* * *

The fact that Blake rejected Ruby's feelings without so much as a second thought, considering all of the things that Ruby has done for the team and for Blake, was eating away at the raven-haired girl. If Blake was being completely honest with herself, she missed all the things Ruby did for her, she missed having Ruby greet her when she came back to the dorm, she missed Ruby's planned outings that almost always catered to what Blake liked, she missed waking up in the morning to see her beloved team all centered around a girl that was youngest of them all, yet possessed qualities that were the makings of a genuine leader. This girl, who was ferocious and valiant on the battlefield, while kind and innocent off the battlefield, was the only one of all three of Blake's teammates that accepted her immediately and unconditionally, for that Blake was extremely grateful.

In retrospection, Blake realized the kind of courage that is required to confess one's feelings to the object of their affection. Ruby revealed her most closely guarded emotions, emotions that she had not even shared with her own sister, with someone who she just met one year ago. Blake cursed herself when she realized that the innocent and naïve little girl she saw on the roof was not Ruby's true character, it was her heart that she was openly displaying to Blake, and Blake lashed out at Ruby's heart with merciless words brimming with venom and malice. It was no wonder Ruby reacted the way that she did, the younger girl had laid bare all of herself to Blake, hiding not even the smallest portion of her heart for protection, and Blake shattered Ruby's love and affection entirely, calling her a 'naïve' girl who was living in a dream, when in reality Ruby was completely down to earth and perfectly aware of the possible outcomes of her confession. The events that transpired on that roof caused the female Faunus to lose much sleep, and often had her on the brink of tears for her mistakes.

The longer Blake pondered the more her heart ached. She was currently lying on her bed, staring at the bed elevated above her as the blankets that drapped over the sides swayed in the gentle breeze that flowed in from the open window. Blake was at a complete loss of what to do, the more she thought of Ruby the more she hated herself for the way she acted, Yang and Weiss were completely useless and unapproachable, never mind even bringing up the topic of their young team leader to them. So Blake decided on the only option left to her, she decided to wait.

* * *

 **Chapter End**


	5. Chapter 5

**Usual disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.**

 **I'm experiencing some persistent troubles uploading these chapters to the site. So if there is ever a break in the uploads that spans some time, you'll know what the cause is.**

 **Just a small note, I tend to jump around in the timeline of the story. I hope its not confusing.**

 **Nothing else to report, so as usual, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 5**

* * *

To Blake, days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and finally after nearly half a year the disassembly of Team RWBY halted. On that day Blake was curled up in the library reading a new book she found, or at least she was trying to read a new book. Ever since Blake's realization of what she had done to Ruby, reading had lost all of its appeal. In fact, everything was becoming increasingly dull and boring to Blake. Food tasted bland and devoid of all flavor, combat practice was no longer a chance to burn off some steam and move her body to its limits, instead it became a chore that Blake dreaded every day. Reading a good book no longer immersed her in a colorful new world of imagination and story, instead it became the time consuming task of reading black printed characters on a white paper pages. Blake had come to the realization that without Ruby around, things just became bland, boring and tedious. But on this particular day, Blake had just finished the last of her exams and immediately headed to the library to burn a couple hours trying to bleed any sort of enjoyment out of her old time hobby.

Blake had only caught a glimpse of Ruby on her way out of the exam room, even from her brief look Blake could tell that Ruby had lost weight, most likely due to not eating properly. The young girl looked frail, as if she would fall over if even the slightest breeze passed by her. Blake knew that she was the cause of Ruby's current condition, and that knowledge alone was enough to make Blake's heart ache whenever she saw the shell of a girl that was her team leader. Somewhere along the way of reading the new book, within the first chapter, all of Blake's emotions, frustrations, and pain came crashing down on the girl, out of her eyes sprung tears and in a matter of seconds Blake was silently sobbing, alone, in one of the far dark corners of the library. Eventually the toll from her emotions and her exhaustion from exams caused the raven-haired girl to pass out.

At the same time Ruby, and Weiss were carrying out their eye opening argument in the halls of the lecture building. Later that same night Weiss would confront Yang about what the both of them have been doing to Ruby, and the three of them: Ruby, Weiss and Yang all reconciled and became as close as family in one night. In the dark hours of the morning following the reconciliation between three of the four members of Team RWBY, Blake woke up in the library and shuffled back to the dorm to find her three teammates all sleeping together on one of the beds, with Ruby sandwiched between the two older girls. Dried streaks of tears could be seen on all three sleeping faces and Blake nearly snapped when she saw dried blood staining the sheets near Ruby, only to realize that Yang's bloody and cut hand was clutching the younger girl to her with fierce abandon. Confused by her reaction to potentially seeing Ruby bleeding, Blake retreated to her own bed and fell asleep, alone.

* * *

Over the course of the following weeks and the semester that followed, Team RWBY made a miraculous recovery. Ruby, Weiss and Yang propelled their team's standings into the upper ranges of their class and earned themselves a reputation that put them on par with several teams from the class year ahead of them. Weiss and Ruby became the unstoppable duo, and Yang became the undisputed number one brawler that claimed the top position on the solo's leaderboard. Yet the last and final member of their team was left on the curb. Blake very quickly developed the notion that she no longer belonged in Team RWBY. She held herself completely responsible for what happened to their team, but through Yang's own insistence that Blake was being ridiculous the raven-haired girl found a way to integrate herself back into the team. Even if that method was by exclusively relying on her relationship with Yang as her partner. Blake never made any motion to approach Ruby or Weiss, partly due to her own guilt over what she had done to Ruby, but also due to the numerous subtle messages she got from Weiss.

Many times during the day, Blake would notice that Weiss would deliberately step between Ruby and herself. Whether that was demanding that Ruby slide down the bench during lunch so that Weiss could sit between the raven haired girl and the young team leader, or Weiss would shove her way between the two of them if they were walking side by side in the hall.

On one particular occasion, in the locker room, Yang had asked Blake to retrieve Ruby's weapon maintenance tool box, when Blake approached Ruby, the younger girl was completely unaware of her presence. Blake cleared her throat, causing Ruby to jump in surprise, spinning around to confront her would be attacker. Upon seeing who had startled her Ruby squeaked out, in a very terrified and broken voice, "Blake?!" before the raven haired girl could even respond Weiss grabbed her by the collar and slammed her down on the ground, pointing her weapon to her throat and bellowing at the stunned faunus, "What the hell were you doing to her?! Haven't you had enough?! Was ripping out her heart not satisfying enough-" Weiss cut herself off before her voice got too loud and to before she accidentally told everyone in the locker room that Blake had rejected a confession from Ruby. Blake felt a fear inducing shiver travel up her spine at the realization that Weiss knew what happened on the roof between her and Ruby.

"Y-Yang sent me to ask Ru-" Weiss pressed down with her weapon, drawing forth a drop of blood and cutting off the Faunus' sentence, clearly the heiress was not pleased with Blake even uttering Ruby's name. "Yang sent me to retrieve a maintenance tool kit …" Blake's wide and terrified eyes made it quite clear that she was telling the truth, but Weiss did not pull back. If anything it felt like she was pressing down with even greater force, that was until Ruby reached out and grabbed ahold of the crook of Weiss' arm, lifting both the heiress' weapon and arm with her surprising strength. Ruby gave Weiss a scolding look that also contained traces of fury before presenting the tool kit to Blake. The younger girl seemed slightly disappointed when Blake slowly pulled the tool kit from her grasp, while taking extra care to not come in contact with her team leader's small hand. Blake made a quick retreat back to Yang to produce to small tool kit, all the while plagued with thoughts of what fate she would suffer it Yang ever became aware of what had transpired between herself and the blonde's younger sister.

Weiss's constant protection and vigilance over Ruby made it impossible for Blake to ever approach the younger girl. Blake also noticed a change in the dynamic of their team's combat formations. In the past Ruby would almost always use every callout, resulting in nearly every possible pairing of team members within the fight, but during recent fights Blake realized that Ruby rarely ever used their call sign, [Ladybug]. In fact Ruby, when issuing Blake team oriented orders, would most often use the Blake and Yang call sign [Bumblebee] and would use a Weiss and Blake call sign on rare occasion. This resulted in Blake's exacerbated feelings of isolation from her team, only by her strengthened relationship with Yang did she remain part of Team RWBY, but even that was a relationship that Blake kept at arms length, out of fear of what would happen to her once Ruby told Yang about what the confession and subsequent rejection.

* * *

The now paranoid raven-haired faunus was waiting in anticipation for the day Ruby or Weiss would tell Yang about what Blake had done to their young team leader, but that day never came. At this moment, Blake was sitting at a table in the library with the other three members of her team. There was a miniature tournament coming up and they were all reviewing their formations and strategies. Yang was sitting next to Blake on her right, with Ruby sitting across from Yang and Weiss across from Blake. They had been sitting here, talking for the past 45 minutes and never once did Blake make eye contact with Ruby. Weiss was keeping constant vigilance on Blake, making sure she never made any sort of motion towards Ruby, not that she ever would, but the heiress had found herself growing exponentially protective over Ruby over the course of the past few months.

After consulting Yang about her newfound protective instincts for Ruby, Weiss was crushed in bone-breaking bear hug from the blonde while the ecstatic brawler screamed about how excited she was. After calming down the brutish blonde, Yang immediately asked if Weiss had any desire to _be_ with Ruby romanitcally, or to kiss her or hold her. Weiss took a moment to consider the questions, becoming confused when she realized that her answer was no. Yang explained that Weiss was most likely coming to see Ruby as her own genuine younger sister and that Yang had the very same instincts. The only difference between Yang and Weiss was that Yang had learned to keep them in check, otherwise she would feel the need to be glued to Ruby's side to keep constant watch over her precious baby sister. Yang simply told Weiss to do whatever felt natural to her and that as Ruby's other elder sister that she would say something if she thought Weiss was being too overbearing. Thus Weiss was currently starring down Blake to ensure that the uncomfortable faunus never mustered the nerve to address her precious best friend and team leader. Weiss' resentment towards Blake was not due to anything that occurred when Blake was in the White Fang, no this new found loathing was born the moment Ruby confided in Weiss what happened on _that_ day all those months ago. Once Ruby had finished her tale, the fuming heiress nearly hunted down the faunus to skin her alive for causing such pain to Ruby, but only by the insistence from Ruby was the infinitely resourceful hand of Weiss Schnee stayed. Ruby claimed that she did not hold a grudge against Blake, and that she was fine now. Weiss doubted the emotional stability of her partner, and continued to do so due to the still vivid memory of the conversation she shared with their young team leader shortly after their reconciliation.

* * *

 _"Ruby … earlier you told me that you had your heart broken … what did you mean by that?" Weiss and Ruby were both walking back to their dorm. Weiss was still trying to process the words she heard ejected from her young team leader's mouth when she was breaking down just minutes ago._ _At mention of her heartbreak, Ruby's cheeks flamed. She knew that Weiss was only interested in her well being, and thus saw no harm in telling Weiss everything, so long as she agreed to keep certain truths from Yang. "Oh … well … do you remember way back when I was sent on that mini-mission for Ozpin and ended up in the infirmary? And do you remember how the receptionist said that only Yang could enter my room?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Well I asked because what actually happened-" Ruby stopped both her sentence and her walking, causing the heiress to stop as well. Weiss turned to Ruby to inquire about why she stopped, but was cut off before she could ask. "Before I tell you why, you have to swear to me that you will not tell a word of this to Yang. Not a word! I didn't tell Yang this on that night because I thought it was best for the team, and for Yang, that she remains ignorant to what happened. Swear to me and to the promises that you swore to me just moments ago that you won't tell Yang!"_

 _Weiss was taken aback by the younger girl's insistence. Whatever the reason Ruby had for hiding this from her sister, it must have placed a terrible burden on the younger girl. Weiss, who just swore to Ruby that she would be there for her for anything, was fully prepared to comply with anything that Ruby requested of her._

 _But before Weiss could swear her loyalty to her team leader and new best friend, Ruby cut her off, again. "I already lost my only sister due to this topic, but I refuse to hold my relationship with my sister as one that deserves the sacrifice of this team's well being and the well being of my teammates. I am content with losing my sister if it means that Yang and my teammates can lead happier and conflict-free lives." Ruby's voice was shaky and tears began to well up in her eyes, but they did not fall. Weiss' heart clenched at the sight and immediately crouched down in front of the younger, shorter girl. Taking her team leader's hands in hers Weiss looked Ruby in the eye and spoke in a voice full of acceptance and calming tranquility that held traces of unyielding loyalty and determination. "Ruby … I whole heartedly believe that you are the only one capable of leading this team, both on and off the battlefield. Now, if you think that this truth will destroy both your sister and will this team, then I will give you my complete support and back your decision one hundred percent." Weiss freed one of her hands and wiped away unshed tears in the younger girl's eyes before continuing. "But you need to realize that you are not the only one on this team. You need to learn to lean on the rest of us if you are having trouble making decisions-" Ruby opened her mouth to object, to say that she knows that this decision is the right call, but the heiress raised her finger, silencing the younger girl before she could speak. "-or if you are making the wrong choice. You need to know that we are here for you and we are here to help you. Now, while I promise to always support you and to always be on your side, I will, however, speak up if I think you are making a mistake. Ruby, trust is a two-way street, and while I know that I have not earned your trust yet, I hope that you will recognize when I am trying to help keep you from making a mistake that you will come to regret, such as this growing distance between you and Yang. I will listen to your reasons and support you if you absolutely insist that you are correct, but if I think you are making a mistake, all I ask is that you take my viewpoint into consideration."_

 _To this Ruby nodded her head and put in a grateful grin to let Weiss know that she both understood where she was coming from and to acknowledge her commitment to her as a friend and partner. Again, Weiss' heart swelled in the face of Ruby's unconditional acceptance of her. The heiress half expected the younger girl to spit in her face and throw all of her previous promises back at her, and to call her a hypocrite for going back on her word so quickly. But the younger girl accepted Weiss' conditional loyalty and was grateful that she was not going to be a blind follower, rather that she was going to help her out by supporting her or by offering her honest opinions on matters where they disagree. To Ruby, the best teammate was not the silent soldier who followed her orders to the dot with no questions or objections, to her the best teammate was one who was there for her and treated her as an equal while showing respect to her in both situations where they agreed or disagreed. She could not be happier that Weiss was very quickly becoming everything she had wanted in both a teammate and best friend, and thus accepted her readily._

 _After Weiss and Ruby finished basking in their mutual acceptance, Ruby opened her mouth to answer Weiss's original question. "I … I was not sent on a mission by Ozpin … I went out into the forest to blow off some steam and to try and take my mind off of my heartache. I was rash and distracted and didn't even realize I was walking into a grim ambush until it was too late. That's how I got those injuries. Also, I asked the receptions to only allow Yang into my room so that my crush, who rejected me, wouldn't have to see me. I didn't want her to have to pretend to like me, pretend to care about me, in front our team. For all she has said to me and all the heartache I felt after she rejected me, I still really like her, and I couldn't bear to see her forced into an uncomfortable situation, never mind one that was my fault. I couldn't bear it …"_

 _Weiss' mind was spinning at the younger girl's confession. Ruby's crush?! She said 'her'! Ruby likes girls?! The realization of Ruby's sexual preference was shocking to Weiss, but after a moment of thinking about the implications of the realization the heiress noticed that it didn't bother her. Even if Ruby was attracted to the fairer sex, that didn't change who she was. She was still the badass, prodigy who Weiss had come to look up to and admire. So what difference does her gender preference make? … None!_

 _Just as the thoughts about Ruby's preference settled into Weiss' mind, another phrase from Ruby's admission jumped out at her. Wait did she just infer that her crush was a part of our team? Weiss's mind was fumbled around with the two only possibilities that could have been Ruby's crush: Blake and herself. The shock of Ruby's confession put a slight hamper on the heiress' mental capacity, thus causing her to try and determine which of the two options Ruby's crush was, despite one of the options being herself. The heiress racked her brain trying to think of a moment when Ruby had tried to confess to her, but nothing came to mind. Fear struck the heiress' heart when the possibility of Ruby confessing to her without her realizing it and thus unknowingly rejecting the younger girl. As ridiculous as the situation was, Weiss' dazed mind frantically searched for a possible memory that could match such an occurrence._

 _After a few moments the heiress finally calmed down and realized that it could not possibly have been her who rejected Ruby. Which left only one possible candidate for Ruby's crush, Blake. While Weiss was not particularly fond of the faunus, she considered her a least a true teammate, but with the realization that Blake had caused Ruby such pain, not that she was one to talk, she found herself despising the cat-faunus. A string of colorful language flowed through Weiss' mind in regards to Blake, but her train of thought was broken when Ruby spoke._

 _"So, do you think I made the right choice in lying to Yang?" Weiss had not even considered whether Ruby made the right call, but immediately focused on that topic, leaving the other one for further contemplation later._

 _Weiss could very easily argue that Ruby should have told Yang about her crush on Blake, and her subsequent rejection. After all, Yang would no doubt be furious that Ruby had kept something like that from her. Weiss' own new found dislike for their secretive teammate nearly decided her position on whether to tell Yang or not, but the heiress stopped herself. She took a moment to consider why Ruby chose to lie to Yang. After a bit of contemplating it became quite clear to Weiss that Ruby's decision was the best choice for the team. After all, telling Yang that her own partner had caused such emotional pain to her sister would no doubt destroy their relationship, and the fact that Blake has no positive and solid connection to anyone on the team other than Yang would mean that Blake would become isolated and estranged from her teammates. Blake and herself were always cooperating teammates who were past enemies. Add onto their already strained relationship the emotional toll on Ruby, Weiss' partner, that Blake caused, would no doubt all but destroy their cooperation. Ruby would try to remain friends with Blake but their interactions would be awkward for some time and could potentially jeopardize their synchronization during combat. Yang would choose her own sister over her partner any day and thus would most likely come to resent Blake for hurting her sister so deeply. In the end, telling Yang about Blake's rejection of Ruby's feelings would cause Blake to become ostracized within the team, ultimately causing irreparable damage to the team's ability to function as a unit. Thus Weiss was forced to concede that Ruby had in fact made the right call by not telling Yang, even if the younger girl suffered greatly as a result._

 _Ruby made a slight sniffling noise, trying to stop snot from running down her face from her all too recent sobbing session. The noise made Weiss snapped back to Ruby, the heiress noticed that the younger girl was using her foot to play with an imaginary puddle on the floor and that her eyes were looking at everything but her, she opened her mouth, inhaling to address the younger girl. "Ruby, as much as I hate to admit it considering the amount of pain and suffering I have seen you go through, even if much of it was by my own hand, I am forced to agree that your decision to not tell Yang was the proper choice." Ruby's eye's lit up with the unexpected praise from the heiress. The young team leader was about to wrap the older girl in a full body hug before the heiress held up her pointer finger to signal that she was not done. "… but I must say that I am not at all pleased by this decision. The sacrifice you are making for that filthy stray-" Ruby shot a hardened glare at the heiress the moment Weiss referred to Blake as 'filthy,' the piercing gaze bordered on pure fury and instantly caused the heiress to stop dead in the middle of her sentence. Weiss, getting the message loud and clear, cleared her throat once before continuing, "The sacrifice you are making for Blake is one that she does not deserve in the slightest … but I will acknowledge your decision, as team leader, as the one that puts the best interest of Team RWBY as the top priority … even if it annoys the hell out of me!"_

* * *

Later that same night, after Weiss confronted Yang about her distance from Ruby, and the sisters reconciled. Yang inquired about the fact that Blake was Ruby's crush.

 _"So let me get this straight, Rubes. You liked Blake?" Ruby nodded. "and you confessed to her?" another nod. "But she rejected you?" Ruby nodded hesitantly, she thought about lying to Yang again, but she could not entertain to possibility of losing her sister right after getting her back, regardless of what Yang said about it being okay to lie to her. At her admission she could feel Yang's flaring temper from just the vibration of the air that carried her sister's voice. Yang immediately slammed her fist into the bedpost of the bed she and Ruby was sitting on. Weiss was sitting in a chair right next to them. They were all going through the last few month's events trying to explain their pain, emotions and behaviors to the other two. Ruby tried to calm down her sister, but her flaring temper was getting out of control, all the while spewing questions at her terrified younger sister. "Why the hell didn't you tell me? I'm partnered with the heartless bitch that ripped out my own sister's heart? How could she? That bitch! I'll be sure to kill her myself!" Weiss cut it before Yang vaulted out of the room to hunt down their missing teammate._

 _"Calm down you dolt! If you were to take a moment and consider why Ruby didn't tell you about Blake rejecting her then you would understand why she did what she did!" Weiss' piecing voice cut through Yang's rage, instantly cooling her blood, and stirring the part of her brain that didn't immediately resort to violence. Even for the short tempered blonde, it took her only a few moments to come to the same conclusion that Ruby and Weiss came to when considering what would happen to Blake and the rest of the team if she reacted badly to Blake hurting her sister. With a huff of resignation Yang plopped back down on the bed and leaned back on the mattress, using her elbows to support her upper body._

 _"So what am I supposed to do? Pretend I know nothing about how she hurt you? Pretend like I don't know how she is the cause of all of us three's suffering? 'Cause if that's what you are expecting of me, then you can forget it."_

 _Weiss was about to speak, but Ruby beat her to it. "Yang, I can understand your anger. You are reacting exactly how I thought you would and this is exactly why I didn't tell you on the night of my rejection. Besides, if I'm being completely honest I still have feelings for her-" Yang immediately interrupted her baby sister._

 _"How could you still like the bitch that stabbed you in the heart?!" Weiss shot Yang a hard glare for interrupting her partner, the deadly look shut the blonde up and Weiss signaled for Ruby to continue. Ruby glanced over at Weiss to flash her an appreciative smile before turning back to her now ashamed sister._

 _"Yes, I still have feelings for her. Why? I don't know … I guess its because I've had feelings for her for such a long time that a couple of hurtful words aren't enough to disillusion me of my crush on her. While it may take me a very long time to get over Blake, know that I will be trying my best to move on. I refuse to let a single rejection doom me to a life of despair and loneliness." Yang and Weiss' heart swelled at the determined look in Ruby's eyes. After all the pain and suffering she had been through in the past six months the two older girls both expected Ruby to be a broken shell of her former self. Both let out a simultaneous sigh of relief upon realizing that Ruby, while still hurting from the rejection, had not let it decide her fate._

 _Ruby was apparently not done and continued speaking. "I still believe that even if Blake and I cannot be together in the sense that I desire us to be, that given enough time I'll be content with us just being friends. So that is what I will strive for us to become once more, friends. But Yang, I will never be able to become friends with her if you try to beat her to a bloody pulp every second you get. So I beg of you, please pretend like you know nothing about Blake rejecting me and do your best to remain the best partner and friend of Blake's. This whole ordeal has already robbed her of her relationship with Weiss and myself. Those bonds will take time to heal. So in the mean time I want you to be Blake's friend and partner to the best of your ability. After all, no one deserves to be alone and everyone deserves a second chance." Yang felt a shiver run up her spine at the familiar phrase that she once heard flitter through the angelic lips of Summer Rose. Yang reluctantly nodded her head, agreeing to Ruby's selfless request before pulling the younger girl into a bear hug to let her know that she had her support._

 _The two sisters fell back on the bed, both exhausted from the emotional toll of the day's events. A long and drawn out yawn from Weiss caused Ruby to turn away from her sister and reaching out her hand towards the nodding off heiress. In her sleep induced delirium the heiress took the hand and was guided to the bed. In one final act of consciousness, before being engulfed in the comforting arms of sleep, Weiss wrapped herself around Ruby, snuggling into the younger girl. Yang and Ruby both gave an amused huff at sleepy-Weiss' behavior before Ruby pulled Yang to herself just as she fell into a deep slumber. Yang, taking to longest to fall asleep after months of not getting proper sleep, slowly began to stroke Ruby's head. It took only a few minutes of the incredibly soothing and relaxing motions before the blonde joined her sister and teammate in the land of dreams._

* * *

Back at the team meeting in the library, Ruby's attention was completely shot. She had been making ambiguous comments about formations and strategies then asking Weiss or Yang what they thought about it. She let the two of them debate and hammer out new formations and strategies, while she desperately tried to not look at the raven-haired girl that she was enamored with. On a poorly disguised glance at the cat-faunus Ruby felt a heavy weight form in her stomach following seeing the raven-haired girl sitting stock still in her seat, shoulders hunched and eyes staring holes into the clock on the far wall.

 _She must be counting down the minutes 'till she doesn't have to sit here anymore. I guess she really can't stand being near me … that or she is still gross out about the fact that I really like her … yeah, that's probably it …_

The sight of seeing the raven-haired girl feelings so uncomfortable broke Ruby's heart, but not due to her rejection, rather it hurt the younger girl to see Blake in such obvious discomfort. For all that the older girl hurt her and pushed her away, Ruby still deeply cares for Blake. She could hardly stand to see the older girl forced into a situation she didn't want to be in, never mind if she, herself, was the source of the older girl's discomfort. So, to spare the cat-faunus from some suffering Ruby interrupted Yang and Weiss, who were hammering out the details of their plan for the tournament.

"Alright team, I think that's enough for today. We have plenty of time to solidify these plans, for now lets call it a day." Yang and Weiss both nodded their heads in agreement before moving to stand up and walk back to the dorm. Before any of them could even slide their chair out to stand up, a blur of onyx shot away from the table. Ruby stared at her retreating teammate with eyes filled with sadness, relief and lingering but intense traces of affection.

Even after all this time following her rejection, her feelings for the raven-haired girl have not waned in the slightest. If anything, she found them growing in potency, but the persistent memory that always played in the back of her mind caused her heart to clench, the words from _that_ day would play over and over again, _I have never thought of you in the way you think of me, nor will I ever think of you that way. You are too naïve, Ruby. Life isn't a fairy tale; it's about time you woke up to reality._

If Ruby was being completely honest with herself, she over reacted to Blake's rejection. She had truly accepted Blake's answer in the infirmary later that night, even if she would feel the sting and pain of rejection for weeks to come, but with that acceptance she also came to realize that the repercussions of her confession were far from insignificant. Firstly, the young team leader realized that if Yang ever found out about Blake rejecting her feelings then one of two things would happen, either Yang would tease Ruby to no end, or she would be furious with Blake for hurting her sister with such harsh words. Neither options seemed ideal, so Ruby decided that it would be best if Yang never found out. Ruby also realized that Blake had no way of avoiding her. Ruby was intelligent, often referred to as a prodigy, given enough diligence she could sail through the curriculum while maintaining a minimal presence. Blake could not, having grown up in hard conditions resulted in her somewhat lacking in the academia department. While the cat-faunus was certainly knowledgeable in terms of natural intelligence, reasoning skills, and street-smarts, she was not particularly well gifted in the more mundane fields of education, thus if she was forced to skip regular lessons her academic grades would suffer. So Ruby made the best choice for her team, she maintained a nearly non-existent presence around Blake so to give her as much space as she needed. In hindsight, Ruby regretted avoiding Blake by never entering certain rooms, such as the cafeteria, but going hungry for a few days a week were a small price to pay for Blake's comfort.

Ruby also fell under the assumption that Blake was feeling guilty for rejection her confession and thus assumed that the cat-faunus was seeking her out to apologize out of guilt and feelings of obligation to her as a teammate. Ruby did not want that, she had accepted Blake's rejection even if the memory nearly brought her to tears, and would not accept any apology from the raven-haired girl simply because she gave Ruby an honest answer. So when Blake sought her out, Ruby persistently fled. Also, Ruby was extremely embarrassed at the thought of sharing a conversation with Blake if the she knew how Ruby liked her so much. A searing blush would bloom across the younger girl's face the instant Blake even came within speaking distance of her, if the older girl ever addressed her, Ruby felt like she would faint due to blood rushing to her head.

As for Ruby's apparent six-month-long-heartbreak-depression, the source of her depression inducing emotions was not just the pain of rejection, but was a culmination of three different, yet related emotionally stressing situations: Yang's increasing distance, Weiss' escalating bullying, and the presence of Blake as a source of both embarrassment and dread. After the events of the infirmary, Ruby became extremely distraught at the notion that she had ruined her relationship with her sister, Yang. While she believed she made the right call to lie to the older blonde, she was still in extreme emotional pain over the decision. In her head she knew it was the most logical decision that provided the most benefit with the least harm, but in her heart she was only feeling the pain of losing her family. Add on top of this familial crisis, Weiss' escalating behavior and Ruby had little incentive to maintain a presence with her team, let alone to diminish the distance she was maintaining for Blake's sake. So she began to distance herself from her entire team in the hopes that Yang, Weiss and Blake would remain together if Ruby, the self-perceived proverbial wedge, were not around to drive them apart. Ruby had not accounted for the effect her absence would have on the team. She assumed that without an annoying brat to boss everyone around that they would grow closer together, not further apart. Of course Ruby blamed herself for what was happening to the team, thus exacerbating her already low self-esteem. The younger girl found herself stuck; she had lost all contact with Yang and Blake. Yang, because she was convinced that she hated her and was disgusted by her, and Blake because she believed that Blake couldn't stand being near her. After all, Blake's first reaction to Ruby's confession was to step towards to roof door, and away from her. Weiss certainly did not provide any sort of welcome that Ruby was looking forward to, thus leaving Ruby in a situation where she was needed to pull her team together, yet she had no way of reaching out to any of them.

* * *

In the face of her own failures, Ruby's emotional stability crumbled even more. Her helpless situation, when combined with the near constant bullying from Weiss had put the young, inexperienced girl under the assumption that she no longer deserved to be in Beacon academy. In the midst of one of her lowest points, Ruby had gone to Ozpin's office to ask to be sent back to Signal Academy.

"Professor Ozpin, I ask that you please send me back to Signal Academy. I am not ready to attend this academy, and would like to finish my education at Signal before re-applying for Beacon. I am too young and inexperienced to lead a team, let alone be a functioning member of my team considering that I am two years younger than everyone here …" Ozpin only stared at the younger girl with a calm and scholarly gaze. When the professor said nothing, Ruby took a step forward and spoke in quieter tones that bordered on broken whispers. "Please, Professor. I beg of you, send me back to Signal, I don't belong here. I don't deserve to be here. My team deserves to be lead by someone capable and-" Ozpin raised his hand, cutting off the rambling girl. He regarded her with a small, sad smile before speaking.

"I am glad that you have finally addressed what it is that is truly troubling you, Ms. Rose. I do not believe for a second that you whole-heartedly believe that you cannot cut it in this academy. After all your excellent grades in nearly every category, including practical and combat skills not only matches your classmate, who are two or more years older than you, but they are in the upper ranges of your class. You are asking me to send a talented young girl, who I hail as a prodigy, back to a school that would only hold her back, simply because she does not think she can lead her team?" Ruby had no answer to that, and so settled for swallowing uncomfortably. "Tell me, Ms. Rose, do you trust me?"

Ruby was caught off guard by the question and only looked at the older man with a confused look on her face. "I'm sorry Headmaster, but … what?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes?"

"Do you trust my judgment?"

"Of course …"

"Then why do you not trust _my_ decision to make _you_ team leader and to enroll _you_ in this school?"

"Because-" Again she was cut off, this time by the older man speaking over her.

"That will be all Ms. Rose. I would like you to discuss this with your team. If you are all in agreement that you should be sent back to Signal Academy, then I will comply, but if even one person disagrees then you will remain here, where you belong."

Ruby nodded her head in understanding, but groaned in her mind. She had hoped that she could resolve all of her problems and all of her team's problems by eliminating the source of the current discord within the team, her. But with Ozpin's ultimatum that called for everyone on the team to agree on sending her back to Signal, Ruby was extremely unsatisfied. She was convinced that Weiss and Blake would probably agree to send her back, but Yang's response was unknown. She would either support her as a sister and vote against Ruby leaving, or she would react like an estranged, distant relative and eagerly send her back. Both possibilities caused a lead weight to sit heavily in her stomach. Ruby also knew that Weiss' temper was currently putting the most strain on the team, thus she elected to wait until Weiss calmed down a bit before bringing up the topic of her being sent back to Signal. Plus with exams coming up, the young team leader had much more important things to focus on, like earning passing grades.

* * *

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **Not sure what this black bar is on the document, tried to get rid of it but it stuck around. If you, the readers, don't see it then disregard this note.**


	6. Chapter 6

**With the posting of this chapter we have officially passed the half-way mark for this story. Again, i must express my appreciation for the positive reviews on this work, I thank all of you for taking the time to write your reviews. I also thank those of who who like this work enough to favorite and follow it. To see so many people enjoy this work has been a major motivation for me to post this work far ahead of schedule.**

 **Usual Disclaimer: I am not attempting to lay claim to any of these characters, they are owned by Rooster Teeth.**

 **Nothing else to report, thus ... enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 6**

* * *

A mistake that continues to haunt the young team leader of Team RWBY is the misconception she let fester between the members of her team. Weiss and Yang were both under the impression that Ruby had suffered months of heartache in the wake of Blake's rejection, when in reality she only really cried over it for the first few weeks. Due to Weiss and Yang's misunderstanding the dynamic of the entire team was very quickly turning ugly. Weiss was acting extremely violently against Blake, which often resulted in the drawing of blood. In one instance, Blake had accidentally bumped into Ruby during combat practice, Weiss retaliated by choosing to not contain the explosive blast of a dust fueled attack which resulting in Blake being caught up in the explosive radius. The 'accidental' friendly fire caused Blake to suffer numerous cuts and scratches from flying debris as well as receive a minor burn on her forearm. Yang who had promised to be a best friend to Blake would always seem to be just out of reach to help the cat-faunus and would let Weiss' violent 'accidental' attacks occur. In the case of the dust explosion, Yang, who was standing next to Blake leading up to the explosion, had seemingly backup for no reason. This unannounced retreat placed her just outside of Weiss' unrestricted blast radius, while she said nothing to warn Blake of the incoming explosion. Ruby nearly snapped when she saw a steady stream of blood flow down the raven-haired girl's immobile arm, but her vision was quickly obstructed when Weiss stepped between her and Blake, as if shielding the younger girl with her body in case Blake tried to get revenge. The look of pure sorrow, defeat, and crushing guilt that swirled just bellow the surface of Blake's shimmering pools of dull yellow caused Ruby's heart to nearly stop. The younger girl wanted nothing more than to rush out to the bruised and bloody girl and wrap her in a hug while pouring forth apologies. In fact she nearly did, but Yang's firm, and immovable grip held her in place against her will. Blake limped back to the infirmary, alone, to tend for her wounds while Weiss, Yang and Ruby walked back to the locker room.

Ruby was very quickly becoming nauseated by the behavior of both Weiss and Yang. She knew that they did not like Blake very much, but following this incident Ruby took extra precautions to ensure that Blake did not accidentally bump into her or do anything to her that Weiss and Yang could use as an excuse to inflict bodily harm on the cat-faunus. Ruby was also extremely saddened by the realization that Blake was doing nothing to change her situation, that she was willingly taking these beatings and injuries without so much as a protest.

Ruby still liked Blake, incredibly so, and thus could hardly stand to see the pain that Blake was suffering at the hands of her teammates. Blake had assumed that this harsh treatment she was receiving was karma or retribution for what she had done to Ruby. But the young team leader could hardly take any more of this. It broke her heart to see the object of her affection getting violently harrassed nearly every day, after all she had been on the receiving end of very similar treatment and it nearly drove her back to Signal. So she thought up a plan of attack, one that would halt Weiss' active aggression and Yang's passive aggression towards Blake. This plan also served the dual purpose of getting her and Blake's relationship back on the tracks to recovery and eventual _friendship_.

* * *

After the first few weeks of the semester the students were all ecstatic that they reached their first big break from school, even if this so called 'big break' was really just a three-day weekend. Ruby had made special arrangements, even calling in a favor from Weiss to make her plans an absolute success. Weiss had agreed to provide a little bit of financial backing to Ruby's plans, but Ruby had begged the heiress to not inquire about what Ruby was using the money for. The heiress, who had come to be able to trust Ruby with anything, agreed with little resistance. Thus, Team RWBY's Sunday was booked with a surprise event for all of the members of the team except Ruby, who was the coordinator.

On the day of the secret event, Ruby woke up bright and early, despite it being a Sunday morning. Blake, who had always been a light sleeper, was jolted awake when she heard the soft pitter-patter of feet walking across the dorm room floor. The sudden and unexpected noise caused the raven-haired girl to sit up very quickly, essentially throwing her blankets from her body. The resulting movement and noise startled the young team leader, causing her to release a surprised squeak, which miraculously did not wake anyone up. After a few minutes of scanning the room, Blake's eyes landed on a younger girl with a face flushed to a shade that was eerily similar to her namesake. Ruby was frozen like a dear in headlights at the sight of Blake, completely disheveled from sleep and in her skimpy sleep wear that the older girl had donned to cope with the hot nights. Ruby had intended to confront her introverted teammate sometime today to request her presence at tonight's surprise arrangements, and now seemed to be as good a time as any. So, Ruby shook herself of her nervousness and strode over to Blake. Frankly, the cat-faunus was frightened beyond all belief. Ruby had not even talked to her in what felt like forever. Blake could hardly remember what Ruby's voice sounded like from up close, but she hardly needed to imagine as Ruby began to speak to her, much her to surprise.

"Hi, Blake! Good morning!" Ruby fell back on old habits. In her past endeavors to try and get Blake to notice her she had developed the habit of always greeting the older girl with a chipper attitude and with an award-winning smile. Thus, in this impromptu interaction Ruby gave the older girl the same greeting she always had in the past, along with her a full grin that radiated happiness. In the wake of such a familiar greeting, Blake found herself smiling as well. That was until she realized that Ruby was the one talking to her and that this was the perfect opportunity to fix her mistakes. Ruby was patiently waiting for Blake's return greeting and hence provided the cat-faunus ample time to determine how she was going to apologize for rejecting her feelings, but she hesitated.

 _What if she is greeting me here and now, like she did in the past, so that we can start over? Or revert to how we were before her confession and my heartless rejection?_

The thought of returning to being just friends pulled Blake's heart up in elation, but down in depression, causing confusing emotions to swirl in her head. She was happy that Ruby might be offering her the chance to build up their relationship again and become friends again, but at the same time the thought of being _just_ friends caused the raven-haired girl to get choked up as tiny tears of disappointment prickled behind her eyes. Blake was fully expecting her own positive reaction to such a proposal, but the depressing one caught her off guard completely.

 _Why would being friends not be a good thing? Why do I feel a sickening weight in my stomach at the thought of being friends with Ruby?_

Blake realized that Ruby was still waiting, and decided to shuffled through these new emotions later and that Ruby was the number one priority right now.

Ruby on the other hand was feeling incredibly unsure of herself in the wake of Blake's silence. It was a silence much like this one that followed Ruby's confession, thus resurfacing memories flooded the younger girl's mind, each of them stung like a fresh wound and threatened to destroy her already crumbling courage. Just before she was about to turn around and sprint from the room, Blake broke the silence.

"Morning … Ruby …" Hearing the older girls voice, regardless of how quiet it was, caused the young girl to break out in a blinding smile once more. And like before the raven-haired faunus was smiling right back. Ruby got lost in the older girl's smile and forgot what that they were holding a conversation, that was until Blake's face grew slightly flushed and she averted her gaze. Ruby quickly recovered and spoke quickly to her teammate.

"So Blake, are you doing anything tonight?" Blake had been planning on spending the entire weekend in the library, trying to reignite the passion of her old time hobby, but much like everything else, it has quickly devolved into a tedious and annoying task. Reading had always been fun to Blake, but following her falling out with Ruby, she found the act extremely boring. The only reason she read now was out of habit. So Blake wasn't really lying when she responded.

"No … I don't have anything important going on … why?" Ruby's expression lit up at the mention of Blake's lack of plans. Ruby was dreading the possibility that Blake had plans that would ultimately render her entire plan useless.

"Oh, well I … we … Yang, Weiss, and I were all planning on going to the opera tonight. It's an informal event that one of the town theaters is putting on for the general public. I had to ask Weiss to buy tickets for it because they were kinda' expensive. Its sorta' a surprise but I wanted to make sure that you could go before-" Ruby slapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from nearly spilling her entire plan to the older girl. Blake raised a single eyebrow at Ruby's odd behavior, a gesture that made Ruby's knees go weak for a brief instance. Ruby collected both her nerves and knee strength once more before continuing. "I mean … Yang and Weiss already know about it and I was really, really, really hoping that you would come. It'll be a nice night out for us all to hang out and have fun together …" Ruby's face blushed when she realized that she revealed how much she wanted Blake to come. She hoped she didn't weird the older girl out by seeming too excited in her attendance.

Blake on the other hand was caught with a very tough decision. If she went then she would be subject to more abuse by the hands of Weiss, but if she didn't she would obviously crush Ruby's hope and dreams of reliving the good old days where they all did stuff together.

 _Why am I even debating this, Ruby really wants everyone to be there, I know she doesn't want_ me _there. She just wants all the members of Team RWBY together. Besides, if I go then at least she knows that I care about the team and that I'm not some self-centered bitch who is only interested in my own well-being …_

"Sure Ruby, I would love to go … What time is the show? And what sort of dress code are we going with?"

Ruby hopped up and down in excitement, the innocent action causing a warm smile to break out across Blake's face. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh! I'm so excited now! Oh, its not until later tonight, we are all leaving here together an hour before the show, so just be ready by 5:30, and as for dress code it's informal so everyone is just going to be wearing normal street clothes. Okay? Then I'll see you later tonight when we will be getting ready to leave." Ruby then skipped over to the door, opening it and stepping outside, but not before enthusiastically spinning around to the still stunned cat-faunus and waving with such excitement that is looked as if her hand would fall off from her wrist.

Blake was confused, excited, anxious, and extremely happy all at the same time. She was confused by why Ruby was all of a sudden talking to her, excited about spending some time out in the town, anxious about having to spend time with Weiss, and extremely happy about being able to spend some time with Ruby. Though the degree of her own happiness caught her off guard and caused further confusion.

 _Has it been so long since I've last interacted with her that I have become super sensitive to her chipper and perpetually happy personality? Or am I really this happy to be talking to her again?_

Blake was at a loss of what to do with these seemingly exaggerated feelings and chose to push them to the back of her mind for further exploration later. For now she had to find a dress to wear to this 'informal' event. Blake had half a mind to consider that Weiss was plotting to embarrass her in front of Ruby by making Ruby drag her to an incredibly classy and upscale event while she was underdressed in her combat uniform.

 _Absolutely not, I will be prepared._

* * *

Weiss and Yang woke up to find that both Ruby and Blake were gone from the room. Convinced that Blake was off avoiding them all and that Ruby had gone down for breakfast they decided to get dressed and join their young team leader for a late lunch if she was still down there. On their way to the cafeteria Weiss informed Yang of what was to going on later today.

"Ruby is taking us somewhere tonight …"

"Oh? She is? Do you know where?" A sparkle of interest of lit up in the blonde's eye.

"She tried to hide it from me, but she's taking us to the opera house. Apparently its some sort of public opening that the theater is hosting, the profits are being donated to charity. The tickets were quite expensive, so she asked me to buy them for her." Weiss' expression turned sour at mention of the tickets, Yang had yet to glance at the heiress and thus had failed to notice the other girl's abrupt change in attitude.

"Really? I've never been to an opera-" Yang finally looked at Weiss and was cut off by the look of pure disgust that Weiss harbored in her features. "What's wrong?"

"Ruby had me buy the tickets-" Yang interrupted Weiss when she repeated herself.

"Yeah? So? If you think Ruby trying to use you for your money you're wrong, Ruby would nev-" The now fuming heiress cut off the blonde when she realized that Yang didn't understand why she was upset.

"She had me buy _four_ tickets!" Yang's light mood very quickly darkened, heat began radiating off her hair, distorting the air around it ever so slightly.

"Why the _fuck_ did she buy _four_?"

"To invite _Blake_ -"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Yang was furious; her mounting distaste for her partner had only been festering over the past few weeks. Despite her promise to remain as a friend to Blake, she very quickly realized that she could not stomach being friendly with her partner. But she made a promise with her precious baby sister and thus she could not take any direct action against Blake, but doing nothing to help Blake proved to be quite therapeutic for Yang. "Why did she buy a ticket for her?"

"She's probably just trying to be nice, she's too nice for her own good. If I were her I would 'forget' to invite Blake then say that she skipped out on our plans for her own selfish needs. That filthy stray won't even put up a fight!"

"But what if she shows up tonight?" Yang was at a loss for what to do. Ruby was incredibly nice and innocent, she may invite Blake out of the goodness of her heart, regardless of whether the cat-faunus deserved it or not.

"Then we make sure Blake doesn't ruin our night … or Ruby's."

Yang nodded at Weiss' plan and donned her mask of friendliness before entering the cafeteria.

* * *

So far the night out had gone relatively uneventful. Blake had called Ruby on her scroll, much to the dismay of Yang and Weiss, and told the younger girl that she would meet them at the theater. Ruby was worried about her plan falling apart, but decided to go for it anyway. Ruby was planning on having the four of them sit separately; she had planned to give Weiss and Yang seats in the very center of one of the rows, while she and Blake sat on the end of a row in the back. So she very carefully inspected the tickets for the correct pairings and gave them to Weiss and Yang, trying to not draw their attention to the tickets. They were waiting in front of the theater for their fourth and final teammate to arrive. The show was due to start in about 10 minutes and Yang and Weiss were overreacting to Blake's tardiness.

"Where the hell is she? I say we just go in and sit down now! Obviously she isn't coming and didn't think we were important enough to let us know that she couldn't fit _us_ into _her_ busy schedule!" Weiss was fuming, but this entire outing was meant to stop exactly what Weiss was doing now, dragging and belittling Blake. Ruby was very quickly reaching her wits end and was getting fed up with Blake's mistreatment.

"Weiss! Relax! We still have 10 minutes before the show starts! Blake told me she would be here and I will gladly choose to believe her rather than make baseless accusation when I know nothing about the situation! So either shut up, or go wait inside!" Weiss was taken aback by the younger girl's outburst. Ruby had never talked to her like that. She almost yelled back at her, but a warning glance from Yang silenced her and she retreated to inside the theater. Yang made to approach her younger sister but was stopped when Ruby spoke up. "And you! Blake is your partner how about you stand up for her! For once!" Yang lowered her head in shame and followed the heiress into the theater. Leaving the younger girl outside waiting for her last teammate.

* * *

It was nearly show time; Yang and Weiss had entered the theater to sit down, leaving Ruby outside to wait for Blake. After her outburst Ruby's confidence quickly evaporated and self-doubt began to settle in.

 _What if Blake decided that she really didn't want to come? What if she thinks that I'm trying to use this theater as an excuse to force my crush on her? I know she rejected me … so I tried to approach her as a friend and have us all come to this together. What am I doing? I just yelled at Weiss for doing this exact same thing. If I really mean to restart my friendship with her then I need to learn to trust her again …_

Before Ruby could continue her train of thought the clacking of high heels caught her attention. Spinning around to identify the noise Ruby came face-to-face with a sight that stole her breath. There, bent over at the waist was the most beautiful creature Ruby had ever seen. Blake was wearing a tasteful black dress that reached down to just above her knees. On her feet were a pair of moderately raised black high-heels. Her hair glistened in the light of the setting sun, as it cascaded around her face. Her make-up consisted of a very heavy-dark purple hue, which made her already striking golden eyes snatch the younger girl's breathe away. Clutching in her hand was a small black purse, which looked only big enough to fit a scroll. As always, Blake's fanus ears were covered in a bow, only this one was iridescent purple. Ruby was left speechless, and embarrassed. Here she was nearly questioning her raven-haired teammate not ten seconds ago, and now she was practically drooling over her. Blake had obviously sprinted to the theater, as she was now resting her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breathe. Ruby quickly shook off her astonishment and approached her stunning teammate.

"Blake! I'm so glad you made it!" Once she started speaking, Ruby realized just how happy she was that Blake showed up. "And oh my goodness, you look amazing!" The cat-faunus flashed the younger girl a smile in thanks; the total look plus the smile made Ruby's knees go weak.

"Thanks, Ruby. I'm sorry I was almost late. How much time do we have before the show starts?" Ruby pulled out her scroll, it read 6:29 PM. In a panic Ruby lunged forward, grabbing Blake's arm and moving to activate her semblance to get them inside the theater. Just before she could step towards the theater doors, an usher slammed them closed. Locking them out, they had missed the show.

"I'm so sorry Ruby! It all my fault we missed the show!" Ruby's head was hung in what Blake assumed was sadness for having missed a show she was obviously looking forward to. Blake's own cat ears fell flat against her head.

 _You can't do one thing right Belladonna! You knew she was looking forward to this show, and yet you dragged your feet, causing both of you to miss the show! Why couldn't she just wait for you inside- … Why was she waiting for me outside?_

Blake's thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like giggling from the younger girl. It quickly grew into a full out laugh, continuing until there were tears in her eyes. Ruby lifted her head to look at Blake, the biggest grin plastered across her face. The younger girl raised her free hand, the one that was not clasped around Blake's wrist, to form a thumbs-up sign.

"Mission Accomplished!" Blake half expected Weiss and Yang to pop out of hiding to hit her for causing Ruby to cry, but after a moment she realized she was crying tears of relief. But that didn't explain what she was relieved about.

"What are you talking about Ruby? You should be furious with me! I caused everyone to miss the show!"

"Relax, Blake. This whole thing was my plan. Weiss and Yang are now stuck in the theater, being forced to watch a three-hour opera. While _we_ get to spend the next three hours together!" Before Blake could even protest, she was dragged off by Ruby's semblance enhanced strength and speed.

* * *

Blake didn't even realize what was going on, but before she knew it she and Ruby were in a café not too far from the opera house. Ruby seated them down in one of the booths in the very back to offer them the most privacy. Blake was panicking on the inside.

 _Privacy means she wants to discuss something important, what if she asks me to resign from Team RWBY and from Beacon? No, this is Ruby we are talking about, she wouldn't ask that of me … would she?_

Ruby's voice cut through the silence that had settled over their table following them get comfortable. "So … Blake! I want to talk about what happened … on the roof … back then-" Blake saw her chance and lunged for it. "-But I need to say everything I need to say, _then_ you can talk." But she was cut off, again. Blake knew she had wronged Ruby and thus was in no position to deny her this, so she nodded.

"I … I guess I want to start off with saying I'm sorry. I'm sorry for trying to confess to you, it was naïve of me to assume you would feel the same. I took what you said on that roof to heart, and I'm trying my best to get to a point where I don't accidentally mix my fantasies with reality, again. I'm sorry for causing Weiss and Yang to hate you. Even though I did not directly cause that animosity, I am responsible for my inaction. Also, I completely understand and respect what you said on that roof. I appreciate that you were honest with me-" _even if it breaks my heart_ "-and that you didn't lead me along, hoping for something that was _impossible_." Blake winced at the pure despair that, was carried by that word. She wanted to reach out to Ruby and tell her that she was wrong, that the only one who made the mistake was her. That she regrets rejecting Ruby, that if she could do it over again she would never have said any of those things. But she liked Ruby too much to go against her wishes, so she remained silent, as Ruby continued.

"I am learning to let go of my fantasies-" _no I'm not_ "-to let go of those wild and crazy adventures that I had projected into reality-" _another lie_ "-to let go of those feelings that I had in my fantasies-" _lie "-_ to let go of my feelings for you. So you don't have to worry about me confessing to you again, 'cuz I won't. I'm letting go of those feelings in the hopes that we could go back to being friends, 'cuz in the end I realized that I only ever really wanted you as my friend, nothing more nothing less-" _liar_ "-So I'm sorry that I confess to you, I now know that it was a mistake; a mistake that I will never make, _ever_ again. So I was hoping that we could start over! Become friends again! And never talk about what happened on that rooftop ever again. Maybe, somewhere down the road, we could look back on our memories of that roof and laugh? But for now I would rather we just forget about it altogether." Ruby let out a sigh of relief, she had said everything she wanted to say, and didn't end up in tears from breaking her own heart. Sure, half of what she said was a lie, but she needed to say what she did if she ever want Blake back as her friend. So, now the ball was in Blake's court and Ruby silently waited her judgment.

Blake on the other hand was experiencing a maelstrom of emotions; there were traces of relief and appreciation that Ruby didn't ask her to leave Team RWBY. At the same time there were traces of understanding and forgiveness, Blake never blamed Ruby for what happened but could understand that the younger girl blamed herself. The emotions that predominated Blake's mind was a combination of unending joy and soul-crushing despair. Blake knew that she was happy that Ruby still wanted to be friends, unbelievably so; but at the same time Blake found herself incredibly sad at Ruby's admission that she was letting go of her feelings for her. The exact reason for her despair always eluded her as she delved into her own mind to sort out these emotions.

 _Maybe I'm just a self-centered bitch who enjoyed all the attention Ruby was giving me when she was trying to win my heart? I guess I'm just disappointed that I won't be receiving the same level of affection from her as I was in the past? I should be counting my stars and considering myself blessed that she still wants to be my friend! Not wallowing in despair that Ruby won't be trying to court me anymore! In fact, I never deserved her love anyway! She would be much better off with someone who actually cared about her! She said she never wants to talk about it ever again, if I'm going to be the best friend I want to be for her, then I will respect her wishes!_

"I understand, Ruby. I want to be friends again too. We shall never speak of what happened on the roof ever again."

Ruby nodded in both acceptance and understanding, before dragging Blake out of the café and to the nearest library, where she demanded that she and Blake read together.

* * *

Three hours later, a fuming Weiss and Yang tracked down Ruby via scroll GPS, only to find both their team leader and Blake curled up in each other's arms on a chair in a local library, both were asleep. Weiss wanted to rip the cat-faunus apart, but Yang stopped her. She and Weiss had a long talk about their recent actions and over-reactions, both coming to the conclusion that they were being extremely hard on Blake. Yang reasoned that if Ruby trusted Blake enough to fall asleep with her, then they could trust Blake enough not to harm Ruby, again. Weiss, while resistant to the idea of forgiving Blake, eventually saw reason when Yang reiterated Ruby's words from a few weeks back.

"No one deserves to be alone and everyone deserves a second chance. Both of us have gone too far, forcing Ruby to act. If you truly do love my sister, then you will swallow your anger and pray she knows what she is doing and support her through this. If she wants the make up with Blake, then we will too." Yang was starring daggers into Weiss, the heiress crumbling under the sheer love and devotion Yang was displaying towards Ruby.

A lot of damage has been done, but the fact that Ruby was still the same inspirational, fun-loving innocent team leader that they all loved and cherished was proof that time can mend any wound. Weiss bent down to a sleeping Blake and Ruby, kissing Ruby on the top of the head and making a silent promise to fix her behavior, for Ruby's sake. With the arrival of a new breathing body so near, Blake awoke with a start, Ruby remaining asleep next to her. The look of sheer terror etched on her face made both Yang and Weiss stare on in pity and shame. They had caused such pain and suffering to this girl that she shook in fear. Yang did not miss the slight shift in position that Blake made, placing herself between Weiss and Ruby, as if trying to shield the younger girl form the heiress' fury. Before Weiss of Blake could speak, or act, Yang's hushed voice cut through the silence.

"Relax Blake, we aren't going to hurt you-" She shot a look at Weiss, " … right?" Weiss nodded reluctantly, before standing up and joining Yang a little bit farther away.

"This wasn't my idea … Ruby planned this whole thing … believe me … please." Blake's ears fell flat against her head in panic. This time Weiss spoke up.

"Believe me, we know you could never come up with something this clever. We know Ruby orchestrated this whole thing …" Weiss released a sigh, dropping the tension in her shoulders and trying to let go of her innate hate for Blake. "Yang and I talked, we went too far … you didn't deserve what we did to you. We forced Ruby's hand into action, which is something that must have been hard on her. The last thing either of us wanted to do was to put Ruby in a tough positon, but I guess we got so caught up in the past and what you did to her and us that we couldn't see that Ruby simply wanted to move on. Ruby obviously trusts you enough to sleep next to you, so we will trust you too ..." Weiss, lowered her voice to just above a harsh whisper, "but if you ever do anything to make her cry again, I swear to god I will gut you like a pig and dump your body beyond the city limits for the grim to feed on your corpse."

Blake shivered at the threat, but saw Weiss' underlying protective intentions behind the threat. She loved Ruby dearly and would do nothing to ensure that she was happy. Blake sat up from her position next to Ruby, looking Weiss in the eye.

"I promise."

* * *

 **Chapter End.**


	7. Chapter 7

**The M rating on this work is really only due to this chapter, and perhaps the epilogue chapters which i have begun writing by the posting of this chapter. Just a minor warning, this chapter does contain a scene of non-consensual intercourse, if you would rather not read that portion of the story, feel free to skip the first paragraph of italicized writing.**

 **In related topics, we are reaching the end of this journey. With the posting of this, we only have three more chapters. A trade off I am realizing too late, is that as i post these chapters well ahead of schedule I find myself having little to no time to write the epilogue chapters. Thus I regret to inform those of you who were looking forward to additional chapters, that you will most likely have to wait some time before those additional chapters are completed and posted. I still have yet to decide whether i will write all of these add-on chapters and post them when they are all completed, or if I will post them as i write them.**

 **But that is a decision to contemplate at another time. Usual disclaimer: I own none of these characters.**

 **Rather long winded note to start off this chapter. I do hope i didn't drag on too much. I'll end it here, so do enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 7**

* * *

It has been nearly 6 months since the day that Ruby and Blake had made up and started down the path of friendship again. Weiss and Yang made a formal apology to Blake a few days after Operation Opera, as Ruby calls it. Team RWBY was back on the path to recovery, this time with all of its members. With Blake back in the loop of the team, teamwork was much smoother and Team RWBY's reputation grew as one of the most formidable teams of their year.

Over the last semester Blake and Ruby had returned to their previous friendship, and more. They had always been good acquaintances, but never best friends. Now their relationship rivaled Weiss and Ruby's friendship. The two of them were nearly inseparable. They would accompany each other to the library to read for hours on end, a ritual that Blake once again found enjoyment in, but not because of the books. Both of them spent more time with each other than they did with their own partners, not their either Weiss nor Yang were complaining, after all Ruby's happiness was their chief concern, so if Ruby was happy, they were happy.

* * *

"I swear! I really did!" Ruby was animatedly yelling at Nora and Jaune in the cafeteria. They had made a comment that Ruby, while being fearless on the battlefield, was rather timid in social interactions, specifically when it came to having feelings for someone. Nora said that Ruby was most likely incapable of confessing, if she ever had such feelings. Ruby, being swept along in the conversation, vehemently disagreed with either of them.

"Last semester I confessed! To Blake!" Nora and Jaune were left speechless. At this time Blake, Yang, and Weiss had entered the cafeteria just in time to hear Ruby's proclamation. All three of them were frozen in place, Blake's heart was pounding in her ears, while Yang and Weiss felt a twinge of regret shoot through their veins. The topic of Ruby's confession was not one any of them were prepared to broach with their young team leader, let along each other.

"But she turned me down! Its no big deal!" Ruby's cheeks burned crimson as she rubbed the back of her neck. Before Nora or Jaune could comment Ruby began laughing. It was a surprisingly light laugh, not one weighed down by pain or heartbreak. Soon Nora and Juane were chuckling along with her, Yang and Weiss eased the tension in their posture at the sound of a still happy Ruby. Blake remained rooted to her spot. She had respect Ruby's wishes to never bring up what happened last semester, but she desperately yearned for the day Ruby would willingly mention that event. She had was planning on apologizing to Ruby for her reaction, and to _possibly_ insinuate that she was interested in a relationship that Ruby was asking for on that day. But the sound of Ruby laughing it off broke a small piece of Blake's heart. Not able to face the younger girl, Blake fled to the dorm room and retired to bed extremely early.

* * *

Over the course of Blake and Ruby's shift back to friendship, Blake finally went back through all the emotional cues and feelings she felt over the past few months. Immediately she realized that she regretted turning Ruby down on the rooftop, that if Ruby confessed to her again she would immediately answer with a 'yes.' But this discovery did not ease her anxiety, time could not be reversed, she could not take back what had already been said, she is forced to accept that she may have turned away the only person who could ever truly love her, and bring her true happiness. This notion made her nauseous and threatened to plunge her back down into the depths of depression; while she did have Ruby's friendship back, her innate desire for more with the younger girl caused a relentless feeling of sinking. This progressive sinking feeling was a result of Blake realizing that all of the small, cheerful, and heartfelt actions that Ruby had done for her when she was trying to win her heart would never again be direct at her. She quickly realized that she would no longer receive an enthusiastic greeting from the bubbly team leader, nor would her odd tastes be taken into consideration when Ruby planned an outing, nor would she ever share the closeness that she desired with Ruby. The realization that, given time, Ruby would find someone else to try and impress caused a foreign stirring of what felt like jealousy in Blake's heart. Just the mere thought of a giddy Ruby hanging off the arm of some unknown person often caused Blake's faunus ears to fall flat against her head. At times Blake would imagine the life Ruby would lead in the future, she would find a good mate, get married, have kids, and grow old with the person who she loved, and that person would love her back equally. Then she would picture herself, leading the miserable, lonely life she always will lead; and the thought that Ruby's future could have been her own future, as Ruby's significant other, if not for the incredibly stupid mistake she made in school. This thought caused an impossibly sharp pain to erupt in her chest and paralyzing jolts to shoot down her limbs, leaving her a numb mess on the brink of tears. She knew thinking these things would have this effect on her, yet she does it over and over again, torturing herself. In her mind she had warped herself into some sort of monster that deserves to be punished and, to her, the ultimate punishment would be to live a depressing and dreary life away from Ruby as she lived a life filled with love, love that was once directed at Blake.

On more than one occasion Blake broke down to tears in her sleep. She was plagued with endless dreams that mirrored her own self-torturing thoughts. Sometimes her combat partner, Yang would wake her form her night terror and soothe her back to sleep. Yang always asked if she wanted to talk about it, but Blake always turned her down. That was until one particular night Blake was experiencing the worst dream she had ever had.

* * *

 _Blake was walking though the school halls, alone. She heard in the distance a light giggle that could belong to none other. A sinking feeling in Blake's gut urged her to get the Ruby to check on her, but when she reached the younger girl she was not alone. Ruby was affectionately clinging to the arm of none-other-than Adam Taurus, the two of them were laughing together. Blake's blood ran cold when she saw Adam turn to the younger girl and place a passionate kiss on her lips, Ruby's silver eyes lit up with affection and love. The urge to get Ruby to safety pushed the cat-faunus forward, causing Blake to stubble into the couple's line of sight. Blake and Ruby made eye contact, but it was immediately broken when Adam stepped between them. Ruby was cowering behind Adam, while he drew Wilt and Blush. Blake raised her hands in surrender and immediately spoke to clear up the misunderstanding, but the only sound that came from her mouth was a feral growl and her hands were pure black with inhuman claws. In utter shock, Blake looked down at her body to see that she was some grotesque hybrid of Grim and feline. Upon realizing just what she was Blake lost all control over her body, she lunged for Ruby. Adam intervened but was no match for her mutated strength, and was tossed aside like a toy. Before Blake could even think, she was upon the terrified and crying Ruby. Her sickening claws pinned the young girl's hands above her head, with one swift motion of her arm and Ruby was stripped of all clothing and left completely naked, shuddering and sobbing on the ground. Blake's heart was shattered when she saw the pure terror in Ruby's eyes when they looked at each other, but Blake was not in control of her body. Blake shuddered as tension built up in the flesh over her pelvis, one lone muscle swelling from increased blood flow. Before either of them could register what Blake's mutant mind was planning to do, her instincts pushed the younger girl's legs apart and slammed Blake's grotesque muscle deep inside of the smaller girl. Pain erupted across the younger girl's face, the expression only seemed to fuel Blake's unwilling actions. With inhuman strength and endurance, Blake began to violate Ruby's body, over and over again. Each time sowing its corrupt seed deep within the young, sobbing_ _girl. Every pained sob and fearful_ _shriek causing Blake's heart to splinter in heartbreak. While her heart could hardly withstand the pain she was inflicting on the younger girl, her out of control, mutant mind was only encouraged with every noise of protest_. _Finally, after what seemed like hours, Blake's mutant stamina ran out and she released the shuddering girl, whose voice was hoarse from screaming._

 _An evil smirk crossed the features of the defeated girl. With a glint of revenge and malice in her eye, she spoke in a voice so raw it hurt to speak, "Too bad for you … I'm already pregnant with_ his _child!" Ruby lifted her hand and pointed to a figure a few feet away. Blake turned to see the dismembered corpse of her once-comrade Adam Taurus, his head was lying on the ground, separated from his body, with a smile filled with content. In a blind rage, Blake felt herself lunge back at Ruby, this time aiming her terribly sharp claws for Ruby's stomach. Blake felt herself moan in pleasure as her claws tore through the delicate flesh of the younger girl. Ruby's screams we both filled with pain and anguish for the loss of her unborn child. Blake lost herself in the flurry of red that spewed form Ruby's body._

 _After an unknown amount of time, Blake finally stopped; Ruby's body had been reduced to a puddle of fleshy bits and blood. Only her head remained intact, her eyes were hollow as they bored into Blake's own. A lone whisper slipped though the lips of Ruby's dismembered head, "Blake … why?"_

* * *

Blake awoke with such a start that she darted off her bed and immediately lunged for Ruby's. The only thought running through her mind was the image of clawing into the younger girl's stomach. She got but a few steps before a mane of golden hair and a pair of impossibly strong arms latched on and kept her in place. It took Blake a few seconds to correct her bearings and realize that Yang was hugging her, and that she was crying. Yang began rubbing soothing circles on her back with one hand, and petting her head with the other, the motions very quickly calmed her down. Only when Blake saw Ruby turn over in her sleep to reposition did her tears halt and her breathing level out. Yang noticed that her partner was not about to break down and released her. Yang spoke when their eyes met.

"Blake … We need to talk …" Blake averted her eyes, clearly rejecting the proposal.

"Seriously Blake, its been several weeks since you've gone more than a couple days without a nightmare … Trust me, I've been there." Blake looked up at Yang with a questioning gaze. The blonde continued, "Back during our 'Dark Times,' when Weiss was bullying Ruby, Ruby was avoiding you and I was avoiding Ruby, I got nightmares nearly every night. I got accustomed to sleeping two or three hours a night. My nightmares only got worse and worse, until Weiss talked to me. You're going through the same thing I did, I think, and the only way to get past it is to talk about it!" Yang's ramble came to an end with a voice that could not be called a whisper. Blake, concerned that they would wake Ruby, quickly ushered Yang to the bathroom, upon closing the door Blake released all the tension in her posture and slumped against the now closed bathroom door. "Fine."

* * *

"So let me get this straight … you regret rejecting Rubes? You now realize you may actually really like her? But you can't undo what you said and are convinced that Ruby doesn't like you anymore than a friend?" Blake reluctantly nodded.

"What makes you think Ruby doesn't like you?" Yang continued to shoot questions at the trembling faunus.

"On Opera night she told me that she was learning to let go of the feelings she had for me. Plus, when I rejected her I may have said that I would never see her as anything more than a teammate or friend … so what reason would she have for harboring romantic feelings for someone who will never like her back?" Blake's voice broke at the end of her question. Yang realized just how distraught Blake was over this issue, but the blonde was at odds with herself. Part of her wanted to spit in the cat-faunus' face and say that she deserves everything that's coming to her for hurting her little sister so. Yet, another part of her genuinely thought that Ruby and Blake could be really good for each other; Blake and Ruby complemented each other very well, Blake was well grounded while Ruby was a free spirit. In truth, Yang was very upset when she first heard that Blake rejected her little sister because she thought that her partner was rejecting something that very easily could become one of the greatest things to ever happen to her; that was until she realized how much the rejection hurt Ruby and her anger redirected to Blake alone. But now that she knew better Yang felt sorry for her partner. She knew that Ruby was one of the best people to love, the bubbly younger girl would give her all for those that she held close enough to refer to as her 'loved ones.' She would never betray you, and would always be there for you. Considering the kind of past the Blake has Yang had always hoped that some one like Ruby would come along and bring the light back to Blake's dark and scary world. But Yang knew Ruby better than anyone, she knew that if Ruby came to care about someone, that a few hurtful words would do nothing to deter her. But Yang knew better than to meddle in the private matters of other people, especially if those people are a potential couple, but this was her little sister's potential partner she was talking to, so she could afford to meddle a little bit, right?

Blake was on the brink of tears just thinking about this topic, Yang wanted to distract her for a few seconds. An idea popped into her head, she could kill two birds with one stone.

"You know, Ruby has some of the weirdest habits. For instance, if you tell her a romantic story with a sad ending, 9 times out of 10 she will be balling by the end. Also, if you ever notice, when Ruby lies she tends to rub either the back of her head or neck …" Yang's abrupt stop in conversation for Blake to focus on the last thing she said.

 _She rubs her neck when she lies?_ _But she wasn't rubbing her head or neck when we were talking on opera night, doesn't that mean that she was telling the truth?_

Blake let out a depressed sigh, Yang could only shake her head in disappointment, and clearly her partner had not connected the dots. Left with no other words of advice to give her partner, Yang extended her hand and patted Blake on the shoulder. Yang's tactic failed, switching strategies, she tried again.

"At the very least, maybe you can convince Ruby to like you again? Maybe you can win her heart on your own? Odds are she won't be confessing to you again. So maybe you need to confess to her?" Blake's averted gaze grew cold and detached as she veered off into her own self-deprecating world.

 _I have no right to confess. I rejected her once already, I have no right to then turn around and confess back to her. Not only would she immediately reject me, but she would also end our friendship. I already lost her once; I couldn't bear to lose her again._

"I … I can't …. I don't have the right …" Blake's cat-ears, which remained uncovered in the privacy of their dorm, fell flat against her head. Yang could only sigh in response; her partner obviously was not in a better place than when she woke from her night terror. Yang looked upon her depressed partner, resolved to right a wrong and be the best partner and teammate to Blake that she could be, something she failed to do in the past.

"Do you love Ruby?" Blake was caught off guard by the sudden question. Did she?

After a few minutes, Blake looked back at Yang for the first time since the start of the conversation. Resolution lit up her glowing golden eyes, "Yes." Yang beamed at her answer.

"Then do what you believe is best for Ruby. If you think you can make her the happiest of anyone, then go for her! If you think someone else is better suited for Ruby-" Blake released a barely audible growl at that, "-then be the best friend that Ruby can always fall back on for support. If you truly love her, so long as she is happy you will be too, right?" Blake thought it over before nodding in agreement.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm now just going to mass post these chapters, and I'll post the single epilogue chapter I wrote.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Chapter 8**

* * *

"Oh! Hey Blake!" Ruby enthusiastically ran up to Blake, who was on her way back to the dorm. They had just finished their last exam of the semester and were all eager to make up for the sleep they lost from studying. Blake was glad that she and Ruby had become such good friends, but over the course of the last few months the cat-faunus found her desire for a deeper relationship with the young team leader only growing in strength. After the talk with Yang that one night, Blake's nightmares stopped, as if her own denial of her love for Ruby was the cause.

"Hey Ruby, How do you think you did?" Ruby shrugged, but the smile never left her face. Blake had noticed that she was becoming hypersensitive to Ruby. She would catch herself smiling if Ruby was, or would feel depressed if Ruby seemed down or sad. She talked to Yang about her emotional link to Ruby, Yang went off on a rant about their hearts being connected. Blake had droned out the blonde's ramble until a certain phrase caught her attention.

" _Weiss gets the same thing-" Blake initially panicked, thinking that Weiss was angling for Ruby's heart as well. To Blake, Weiss was in a much better position than her to claim Ruby's affection, after all Weiss hadn't already rejected her and they were partners. Yang caught on to Blake's panic when she saw how her partner's cat-ears were twitching around, as if on full alert. It took a while, but Yang finally explained to Blake that Weiss initially thought she was in love with Ruby, but after talking it through her Yang, she found that she held no desire to touch or kiss their team leader, only to protect her from harm and ensure she was happy. Blake could still feel the release of tension that left her body back when Yang explained it all_.

Blake sighed in nostalgia at the up lifting memory. Ruby interpreted the sigh as a bad sign.

"You don't think you did very well?" Blake was snapped out of her thoughts by Ruby's sudden question.

"What? Why do you- Oh! No, I don't think- I mean maybe I- … I'm not making any predictions about my grades until they are released!" Blake's cheeks were aflame at her utter lack of ability to form coherent sentences in the presence of Ruby, yet another development that the cat-faunus noticed over the course of the past few months. Once Blake realized and accepted her feelings for Ruby, previously simple tasks, such as tapping her shoulder to get her attention, or calling out her name, or having one-on-one conversations with her, steadily became more and more difficult. With the threat of losing her friendship with Ruby, if she ever let slip how much she adored her, Blake was struggling to maintain a normal appearance before the ever-adorable team leader.

Ruby giggled at Blake's stuttering, the sound was music to Blake's ears. She focused intently on the sound with her cat-faunus enhanced auditory sense, in an attempt to memorize the sound and imprint it on her memory. Blake got so lost in the sound that she almost forgot to look hurt by Ruby mocking her, almost.

* * *

Some time later, Blake had decided to go to the library to reward herself for getting though exams. Ruby jumped at the chance to go with her. On the way, conversation died out, until Ruby broke the silence.

"So … I talked to Sun the other day." Blake's jaw clenched in a jealous rage, she hated it when Ruby talked about spending time with other people, especially when she talked about spending time with men. Blake internalized her rage, and adopting a calm expression on her face that held traces of curiosity.

"Oh yeah? What did he want?" Blake failed to keep some of the venom from her voice. Ruby either didn't notice or acted like she didn't.

"He asked me a really weird question … I mean, the question wasn't weird, I just thought it was weird that he was asking me!" Blake began plotting how she would murder Sun, all the while maintaining her fake look of curiosity.

"He asked _me_ if _you_ were single … weird right?" Blake didn't know whether to kiss Sun in thanks or punch him in the face. Ruby didn't sound like she was offended or that she was disgusted with the idea, she sounded completely neutral. Which caused Blake's heart to both soar and constrict. Ruby continued.

"When I asked him why he was asking me he said it was because it looked like _we_ were together! Can you believe that? I almost lost it right there!" Ruby started laughing, although it sounded somewhat forced, Blake didn't notice. She was more focused on the fact that Ruby thought it was ridiculous for the two of them to be in a relationship. All of her hopes and dreams of getting with Ruby were crushed in that instance. She would _never_ be anything more than a _once_ -beloved friend.

Blake wasn't laughing along with Ruby and the younger girl noticed, "Hey … Blake … are you okay?" Blake looked back at the object of her affection, but saw only friendly concern in her eyes. She saw that Ruby would never care for her more than as a friend, she saw that the younger girl no longer held the capacity to love her, she truly had abandoned her feelings. This realization hit Blake square in the chest, knocking the wind from her lungs. Tears prickled at her eyes, blurring her vision and melting the pristine view of Ruby into a swirl of red and black. Blake couldn't let Ruby see her like this, so she ducked her head to the side, letting a curtain of onyx hair to shield ruby's view of her face.

Ruby was confused, but thought perhaps Blake didn't like how her story was going; Maybe Blake really liked Sun, as much as that thought broke her own heart. So she swallowed her own pain and finished the story.

"Hey, its okay! I cleared up everything! I told him, 'She turned me down a long time ago!' … See? Everything's fine this way right?" Blake's heart was breaking all over again, unbeknownst to her, so was Ruby's. No longer able to remain in Ruby's presence, Blake pivoted and sprinted away. Ruby, too busy wallowing in her own pain didn't notice Blake flee until it was too late.

 _I guess she's going to go clear up things with Sun. Maybe Blake will confess to him … that's great! Good for h-_

Ruby broke out crying.

 _But I still love her! Why does this world have to be so cruel!_

Ruby turned and ran in the opposite direction. She didn't realize she screamed that last thought out loud.

As she ran, a silently crying blonde watched on in horror.

* * *

 **Chapter End**


	9. Chapter 9

**I appreciate your support for this work. I am glad I was able to post it.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take It Back – Chapter 9**

* * *

 _Come on Ruby! Get yourself together! Your assuming Blake likes Sun, you don't know for sure!_

Ruby was lethargically shuffling through the halls of Beacon Academy. The combined emotional and physical toll she paid quickly sapped her strength.

 _You knew this would happen … you knew she didn't like you the way you liked her! Besides, as far as she knows you don't like her as anything more than as a friend anymore! Why would she refrain from finding a partner when she only sees a friend in you?!_

Ruby sighed, her heart breaking in the process. She had prepared herself for this moment, or at least she thought she had.

 _Why are you so surprised? You resolved yourself to be her friend! Right? Friends support each other through finding a life partner! And what are you doing? Other than ruining her only chances at finding happiness with the_ man _she loves!_

Ruby sighed again, what she was thinking was right. If she wanted to be a true friend to Blake, she needed to be there for her when helping Blake find happiness. Ruby realized that if she truly loved Blake she would be happy if Blake was happy. After all, Blake has lead a life harder than most, she deserved to be happy the most out of everyone. Armed with her new resolve and reinvigorated Ruby vaulted back in the direction Blake left in, she had to make things right.

* * *

 _Ruby really gave up on me? She doesn't like me anymore? She doesn't care for me anymore?! She … she just joked off her confession … to Sun … she thought the idea of the two of us being together was ridiculous!_

The pain was unbearable. She thought the most painful thing was being so close to Ruby, yet so far. She was wrong. The most painful thing was _wanting_ to be close to Ruby but realizing that she _never_ would. That thought alone stole her breath and renewed her tears.

Blake had eventually run out of steam when she reached the library, she almost went in but memories of her and Ruby reading together would only make her cry again. So she left, down the hall and eventually found herself outside in the courtyard. Left with no strength left she sought out the nearest empty bench and threw herself into it. Her head was spinning and it felt to heavy to keep up, so it fell into her hands.

 _Why?! Why can't I do just one thing right? Why can't just one thing go right in my life?! Or am I destined to be alone forever? Alone and miserable …_

Blake thought she was out of tears, evidently she was wrong, again.

 _I thought I was prepared for this? Didn't Yang say that if I truly loved her I would be happy if she was? She's obviously happy enough about our current relationship, so why can't I be happy that she is?! I guess I'm just a selfish bitch who would only be happy when forcing a rejected crush into a relationship with me!_

"Fuck!" Blake sobbed harder.

"Hey … Blake … are you alright?" That was not Ruby's voice, thus Blake reacted slowly to the sound. Looking up she saw probably the one person she really didn't want to see right now, Sun. Before she could control herself she released a subtle hiss.

"Hey, hey, hey! What was that for, huh?!" Sun picked up the sound of hostility and immediately went on the defensive. Blake quickly recomposed herself but was a step too slow, Sun saw the tears streaking down her face.

"Hey … is everything okay?" Sun sat down next to Blake and put his hand on her shoulder. Blake, too numb from having her heart crushed, didn't notice. It felt like a rock was lodged in her throat, so she could only shake her head.

"Does this have anything to do with what I talked to Ruby about?" Blake's breath hitched, that was all the confirmation Sun needed.

"So it does … well just know that I only asked Ruby because I didn't know what to talk to her about … normally I would have just asked you if you were single …" Sun was rubbing his neck in nervousness, not that Blake would have noticed, her head was still in her hands.

"I think I said something that upset her though …" That got Blake's attention, she looked up at the young man for the first time since he arrived. "After she said that you had rejected her she sprinted away-" Sun grimaced " … there were tears in her eyes …" Blake's mind went blank. Her throat cleared, and her vocals were working again.

"What?"

* * *

Ruby was sprinting across campus; she had spent the last few minutes searching for Blake inside the library, but turned up empty handed. So she frantically began searching for her outside. She needed to find her and fix her mistake, she had forgotten what it meant to be a selfless loved one. She resolved herself to support Blake through any and everything, even if it was finding her a life partner that wasn't her.

Ruby was out of breath when she finally reached the courtyard after finding no signs of Blake for quite some time panic began to set in. Ruby frantically started searching until she spotted a girl clad in black sitting on a bench in the distance. Ruby didn't need her semblance to reach the bench, so she just started jogging, but as she approached she could make out another figure sitting on the bench next to Blake, it was Sun. Ruby halted in her tracks.

 _Don't do this again! You almost ruined her chances once, don't do it again! Go over there and apologize for being so insensitive! And beg for her to remain your friend!_

Ruby began moving one more, starting out as a slow shuffle, eventually working her way up to an easy walk. However, at the sight of Blake lunging and embracing Sun, Ruby's heart broke. The full realization of losing the one she loved to another proved too much for her to bear. Her blood was pounding in her ears, tears flowing down her face, not a single muscle followed its commands, yet were twitching uncontrollably. She could practically hear the fragmented shards of her heart shattering as they fell onto the concrete.

 _I … I can't do this-_

Before she had the opportunity to make her presence known, Ruby felt herself running away, _again_. She could barely perceive the feeling of her feet hitting concrete, nor could she feel the wind whipping at her face. The pain in her chest eclipsed all pain, leaving her numb to the world around her. She hardly even noticed that she was stepping on one of the air-ships that ferry people to and from Beacon Academy and the city. It wasn't long before Ruby was wandering around aimlessly.

She was done. She was sick of feeling like this. She just wanted to forget. Forget about Blake, about her crush, about the pain. But life wasn't so merciful. You couldn't just flip that switch and forget whatever you wanted. To tired to go one, and too drained from her emotions to continue to contemplate this ordeal, Ruby walked into the nearest building. The music and noise coming from it did well to drown out her misery.

* * *

Yang was thoroughly confused. She was surprised when she found out that Blake really liked Ruby, even if she was initially angry at the cat-faunus for liking her little sister after rejecting her, but after seeing how much she liked Ruby she let her rage go and accepted Blake's feelings. She was dumbfounded when she heard Ruby herself say that she still liked Blake, she knew her little sister meant it too. What confused her most was the fact that these two people, who obviously love each other, had up until this point remained as distant friends. Why? Yang turned to the only other person she felt comfortable confiding this information in, Ren. They were both sat in Team JNPR's room with the rest of the team killing time through various activities.

"I don't understand … I mean I know Blake said that she thought Ruby only saw her as a friend, but she has to realize that Ruby is still pinning for her … right?" Ren thought it over for a minute.

"Maybe she doesn't … rather, maybe she has convinced herself that Ruby could never see her as anything more than a friend, and thus has deterred herself from realizing the obvious?"

"Then what about Ruby? She has to realize that Blake likes her … or has she 'convinced' herself of that too?" Ren nodded.

"Its entirely possible that Ruby is still carrying around her pain of rejection, and thus using that pain to keep her feelings in check. This self-regulation could make her blind to any advances that Blake is making to get together with her …" Ren shook his head. This dilemma appeared to be over complicated and could potentially ruin their sister team, who consisted of four life long friends to both himself and his own teammates. Neither he nor anyone on his team wanted to see their friends struggle like they did in the past. They didn't interfere the last time Team RWBY was falling apart; this time around they would do their utmost to ensure that it never came to that again.

"Either way Yang, you should keep an eye on Ruby. She is much younger than the rest of us and thus may not be able to take care of herself should this situation grow any worse. I'll send Juane and Pyrrha out to look for Blake, and possibly pick up Weiss along the way. You, Nora and I will be going to go find Ruby. If these two can't see the truth by themselves then we need to help them." Yang nodded her head and steeled her resolve. She had remained passive when it came to Ruby and Blake's relationship, but if their happiness was held in the balance she was determined to make sure that neither of them regretted their decisions.

Ren relayed what was going on to the rest of his team. Pyrrha and Juane agreed with his decision and set out the round up Blake and Weiss, while Ren, Nora and Yang set out to find Ruby. Hopefully they would make it before irreparable damage was done.

* * *

Pyrrha and Juane had spent an extensive amount of time combing the library for Blake. When they found nothing they scoured the rest of campus, along their search they found Weiss and gave her a run down of the situation, she was immediately onboard and helping the search. With the searching range of three coordinated people, it took them relatively little time to locate Blake. They found her sitting on a bench in the courtyard with Sun. Blake herself looked cheerful, while Sun looked like he was on the cusp of depression. As they approached Blake noticed their presence and turned to them.

"Hey! Juane, Pyrrha, What are you guys up to?" Juane was the first to answer.

"Actually we were looking for you …" Juane seemed to hesitate a bit, obviously having more to say, but not knowing how to ask it. Pyrrha jumped in for the assist.

"Do you know where Ruby is?" That got Blake's attention. She dropped her distracted and cheery look and zeroed in on the people before her. Blake shook her head in the negative. Pyrrha continued.

"Well, Yang is concerned … she … she saw what happened in the hallway a while back …" Blake paled. "According to her, after you ran away, Ruby did too … and she was crying …" Blake shot off the bench, towards Team RWBY's dorm. A pale arm shot out after her, snatching her by the collar before she got out of reach. The force of the pull laid Blake out on the ground. The owner of the pale arm started yelling at Blake, snapping her from her shock induced trance.

"Slow down you dolt! Yang and the rest of JNPR are out looking for Ruby, she's not in the dorm or the library. After we found you we were supposed to join them in the search …" Blake grew more frantic at the news that nearly two full teams were out looking for Ruby and still no one had found her. A cold, icy glare from Weiss clamed her once more. Just then Weiss got a call on her scroll.

"Its Yang." Weiss took the call and walked a bit away so that she wouldn't be disrupted if the other three began talking. Blake asked Pyrrha and Juane where they had looked so far and if they knew of any other places where she might have gone. Blake tried her best to not panic, she had just found out that Ruby could possibly still like her yet here she was on the brink of losing her once more. Pyrrha and Juane sensed her frayed nerved and tried their best to sooth her and reassuring her that they would find Ruby. The loud clap of Weiss ending the call with Yang made Blake jump, and grabbed their attention to the heiress.

"Yang says they checked everywhere Ruby has been frequenting lately …" she looked at Blake, "-including the roof top." Blake looked away in shame at mention of the location where she broke Ruby's heart. Weiss continued talking, "Yang suggested that we see if Ruby boarded a shuttle to the city while they stay here and search the rest of Beacon. Blake nodded and started making her way towards the shuttle terminals at a brisk pace, one that required Weiss, Juane and Pyrrha to sprint to catch up.

* * *

The music was obnoxiously loud; it pounded in the ears of every inhabitant of this dark and deranged place. These inhabitants had alcohol coursing through their veins and their hearts beat in sync with the music. They were all alike. Except for one lost soul sitting in the far corner of the bar. The owners of this club had done a poor job of enforcing the usual alcohol regulations, as a result the young, heart broken Ruby found herself sinking deep within the utter bliss of drunk oblivion. The bartender would sometimes come by and ask something of the girl, not knowing what he was saying ruby would nod her head and another drink would materialize before her. She was so parched that she couldn't help but down the drink in one go, the foreign substance scorching her throat all the way down. The odd tonic had a strange effect on her: her head was growing cloudy, her limbs seemed heavy, eyes burned, and ears began to ring. Not trusting herself to hold onto the glass in her hand, she slammed it back down on the bar. A moment later she looked at the glass to find it full once again, she was convinced that she had just drank it, but with such a haze over her senses she did trust herself to know any better, and so she drank on.

It wasn't long before the obviously drunk young girl had attracted the attention of those who frequented this club regularly. Most of them were shady characters looking to take advantage of a beautiful young girl who couldn't hold her liquor. Even through the haze of being drunk, Ruby managed to wave off most of them. The rest were dissuaded by the massive weapon hanging off her lower back. That was until a mysterious seductress strode over to the young girl, the inhabitant of the club called her a number of names: snake, escort, seductress, and marriage destroyer. The list goes on, this alluring woman had the habit of prey on those who sub come to the oblivion of alcohol and sleep with them. Only to then blackmail them with the photos and videos she would take of the previous night's activities.

This woman was sporting a skin tight, blood red dress that accentuated her curves and allowed for a very generously low neck line to complete the look. Her hair was as black as night and her eyes were pale yellow with alluring flecks of lime green sprinkled throughout, making them appear to glow. Her legs were long and bare, making the nearby men drool with desire.

This woman caught Ruby's attention the moment she entered her field of view. The combination of black hair with glowing eyes immediately made her think of Blake, yet she clearly wasn't. In Ruby's twisted mind she had a glimmer of hope that maybe if she went out with someone who reminded her of Blake she could forget about the cat-faunus and move on. It was either use this stranger to ease her broken heart or live on in misery trying to endure this clenching pain in her chest. The young huntress-in-training went for it.

* * *

"Yang, we've searched every conceivable location on the entire campus. She is not here …" Ren, Nora and Yang had looped back to the dorms to catch a quick break. Yang wanted to keep searching, but Ren managed to convince her to sit down for a few minutes. Yang only grunted at Ren comment. " _If_ she went to the city, do you have any idea where she might go? Does she have any favorite spots? Like a café, or a restaurant, or a club, or library?" Yang shook her head.

"No … I mean … Ruby used to plan team building activities in the city for us all to enjoy, but she never frequented the same place twice … If she really went to the city then I don't have the slightest idea as to where she would go …" Yang started to tear up. More than anything, she hated being useless to help her family, yet here she was crying like a little girl all because she can't keep track of her baby sister.

Yang felt nostalgia wash over her; she had failed _again_. She had failed once more to watch over her sister, she had let down Summer. She had-

"Stop it." Yang looked up at Ren and Nora through tear-blurred vision, Ren was speaking. "I know what your doing … you're blaming yourself. Before you start down that line a thought ask yourself … Ruby needs you, so what helps more? Sitting here and crying? Or looking for her?" Yang didn't know how to respond, she almost started down _that_ path again, the one that ultimately wounded both her and Ruby. Taking Ren's words to heart, Yang whipped her tears in one sweep and righted herself. Her baby sister needed her and she was not going to accept failure ever again.

* * *

Blake was growing exponentially more and more worried as time went on. They had been searching for Ruby for a couple hours with still no sign of her. The four of them have had to resort to asking locals if they had seen a young girl with a red cape walking around, but everyone they talked to had nothing to share, no one had seen her. Juane, Pyrrha and Weiss had grown tired and told Blake they were going to go take a break, and reminding her to call them if she finds anything.

Blake never rested. She kept going, kept asking strangers on the street if they had seen anyone who matched Ruby's description. After being turned away for what felt like the millionth time, Blake started to slow her pace. She noticed that the sky began to grow a vibrant shade of pinkish-red. It was getting late. The realization of how much time had passed only fueled Blake on more. Ruby has little to no experience surviving on the streets of a city, she may not survive the night.

Just as Blake was passing by an alley way a noise caught her attention. Down the alley way a door opened and two figures stumbled out. In the brief instance that the door remained open, on its way to close, Blake could hear the rhythmic thumping of club music. The two figures, who appeared to be trying to occupy the same space, tumbled from the door across the alleyway into the wall adjacent. The impact caused a one of the figures to gasp in both pain and pleasure. Due to Blake's faunus enhanced sense of hearing she could pick up two distinct sets of panting, both female. The two female's were furiously making out and, thus were out of breath causing both of them to release rather loud gasps of breath in between kisses. Determined to investigate everything, Blake turned towards the alley, focusing both her eyes and ears on the two girls in the darkness. It was too dark for Blake to see their faces, but she could tell that one of the girls was significantly shorter than the other. She also noticed that the taller girl was dominating the smaller girl, using her height advantage and extra weight to pin the smaller girl against the wall as she ravaged her mouth. The smaller girl was leaning against the alley wall at an odd angle, as if something was between her hips and the wall. Just as Blake noticed this, the taller girl reached around, with both hands, to the smaller girl's lower back. After a few seconds of subtle movement, a loud metallic clang echoed through the alley. Whatever was on the smaller girl's hip had fallen to the ground, ungracefully. A small moan of discontent escaped the smaller girl's mouth before the taller one grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up. Understanding the taller girl's intentions, the smaller girl wrapped her legs around the waist of the other girl and snaked her arms around her neck to lock their lips in place. The taller girl then slammed the smaller frame in her arms against the wall, _hard_. The smaller girl moaned in pure ecstasy, as the taller girl began the grind their pelvises together, using the wall to keep the smaller girl in place.

Blake watched on in utter shock. She had never seen two strangers be so intimate with each other. If she was being honest, her knees were growing weak by simply watching, a pleasant heat building up within her. She had experienced similar heat whenever she thought of Ruby whenever she was extremely lonely, often resorting to using her memories of the innocent girl to satisfy needs. But this was on a completely new level.

Yet at the same time Blake could feel the tingling pricks of jealousy stir within her. The closeness that these two shared was one that she wished she had shared with Ruby. She longed to be able to hold ruby like that and in turn have the younger girl cling to her like her life depended on it. A small hiccup broke her from her thoughts. At the chances of being discovered as a peeping tom, Blake ducked down and entered the alley, using a large dumpster to hide from the view of the two girls. Blake settled down against the metal box rather roughly, eliciting a loud bang to resound throughout the alley. Blake heard the flustered sweeping of hair across a silky material; the taller girl was looking around the alleyway for any uninvited guests. When she found none she turned back to her partner.

Blake could hear the calm, even breaths of the taller girl and the shaky shuddering gasps of the smaller girl. Blake immediately attributed the taller girl's composure to her age, thus assuming that the taller girl was in fact older than the younger girl, who is still trying to stabilize her breathing after such intense activity. Blake heard the older girl clear her throat, obviously testing her vocals before attempting to speak. In a hushed whisper, the older girl broke the silence. "Ooh Red, you don't know what you're doing to me when you look at me like that!" The older girls voice was dripping with lust. Blake took a risk and leaned out around the corner too see _exactly_ what kind of look the younger girl was giving her lover. When she turned the corner, her heart stopped.

She could only see the taller girl, who had jet black hair like her own and glowing yellow-green eyes. Blake noted the obvious similarities but swaying in the breeze from the street, around the older girl's ankles was a cloak of the purest red. All of time seemed to slow to a crawl as she shifted more and more out of cover to see who was the owner of the cloak. In Blake's mind a mantra was repeating over and over again.

 _Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby! Please not Ruby!_

After what felt like an eternity Blake's eyes landed on her beloved team leader, her legs wrapped around some random woman, possessively. Her face was flush red, and her head had an unnatural bob to it. Crescent Rose lay on it side in the dirty grime of the alleyway trash. Her chest was heaving from the intense activity that just too place, her hands entangled in the hair of the stranger before her.

Before Blake could even register the heartbreak, Ruby spoke to the taller stranger in slurred broken speech, "Mmm … love y- … Bl-Blake … M'ov … you …" the stranger shot right back.

"Sorry to burst you bubble Red, but my name's not Blake. I guess Hank was right, you are drunk; hopefully you have some rich family that'll pay top dollar to keep _our_ sexual adventures out of the public's eye." The taller woman adopted an evil sneer that went straight over Ruby's drunken mind, the younger girl beaming back at her.

Blake saw red.

Blake's vision faded out everything, except for the snickering woman. Her blood boiled in rage. Rage over someone else, sinking their teeth into _her_ Ruby, over someone trying to hurt _her_ Ruby. All unnecessary senses faded into oblivion, she didn't feel a thing when her nails cut through the flesh of her palm in her clenched fist, nor did she feel the creak of the bones in her hand strain against the metal dumpster she was grasping in her other hand. All color from her vision faded to black and white, then slowly the woman she found herself loathing with every fiber of her being began to glow a sickening blood-red. Blake could do little to react when she saw her own fist making contact with the evil woman's face.

In an instant, Ruby was dropped to the ground. Blake was on top of the carnivorous stranger, venting all her rage and anger into her. The woman could do little to protect herself, other than using her arms to shield her head. Blake's rage was relentless. She punched until her knuckles bled, and until the woman was a broken and bloodied mess on the alleyway ground, only by Blake's concern for Ruby's well being did the evil woman keep her life.

After she checked Ruby thoroughly and found no injuries, the full force of the rush of anger hit her. In an act fueled by pure adrenalin and instinct, Blake leaned down to Ruby and kissed her passionately, as if to try and erase the taste of the other woman from her lips. Blake's cat-ears twitched in utter delight at the taste of the younger girl; Ruby, still utterly wasted, just moaned into the kiss thinking she had been with Blake this entire time. The kiss helped Blake find her bearings; she broke the kiss abruptly, stumbling back in shock at what she had just done. The cat-faunus brought her hand up to feel her numb lips, a light dusting of red coating her cheeks. A small smile emerged on the cat-faunus' lips, she knew she loved Ruby and that Ruby liked her back in some capacity. She was sick of hiding her true desires, she chose to wear her heart on her sleeve rather than hidden away from both Ruby and the world. She realizes, had she done this from the beginning, none of this would have happened. She would not make the same mistakes again.

Blake kneeled down next to Ruby and scooped her up into her arms; one arm beneath her knees, and other supporting her back, lifting her up. Only when Blake had reached a standing position and shifted Ruby to a comfortable position, did she realize just how small and fragile the younger girl's tiny frame felt. A deep protective urge bubbled up within Blake, rather than trying to hide like she would in the past, she accepted it and hugged the barely conscious younger girl to her tightly, silently promising to always protect her.

As Blake, with Ruby in hand, made her way back to the street Blake found a throbbing pain erupt from her hands and chest. Her knuckles flared from shredded skin, where as her heart was still trying to cope with the realization that Ruby was the one being dominated mere moments ago. Blake found her anger full bore, just beneath the surface of her consciousness; the black-haired stranger's intentions would likely fuel her rage for quite some time. But at this moment, none of that mattered. All she wanted was to get Ruby back in the dorm, get her warm, comfortable and safe and let this day end.

Ruby stirred as Blake stepped onto the street, the quickly darkening sky was still much brighter than what she had been exposed to for the last few hours. Ruby shifted her position, twisting away from the light and curling into Blake's embrace. The cat-faunus couldn't help but smile down at the younger girl. A sudden urge coursed through her, resolved to never again hide her affection for the younger girl, Blake craned her neck down to the now sleeping Ruby and planted a small kiss to her brow and whispering loving affections to the younger girl. In turn Ruby sighed happily, and settled into Blake's arms with content, her head resting against Blake's bosom and hands clinging to her shirt. Blake giggled at Ruby's antics and continued on her journey towards Beacon Academy.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**


	10. Chapter 10

**Take it Back – Chapter 10**

* * *

On her way back to Beacon, Blake ran into Weiss, Juane and Pyrrha. All of them inquired about where she found Ruby, but Blake shook her head and promised to explain it later. Blake, herself, had been drained of her adrenaline and was starting to fatigue. The physical and emotional toll of the day started to take effect. Pyrrha offered to carry Ruby for her, but she rejected the idea. She would not accept anyone other than herself carrying Ruby home.

When they got back to Beacon, Yang was overjoyed that her precious baby sister had been found. Yang noticed immediately that Ruby had drunken herself into unconsciousness; obviously the blonde had experience with this sort of situation before. Blake immediately asked Yang if Ruby was going to be okay, she knew Ruby had no external or physical injuries but her lack of knowledge of the effects of alcohol left her with many questions. Yang waved off her worries saying, "She'll be fine, a little hung over tomorrow morning, but she will be fine," and rested a reassuring hand on Blake's shoulder. Yang offered to carry Ruby from the shuttle terminal to the dorm, but Blake again denied the request. She found her own nerves fraying at even the thought of letting go of the younger girl, as if she would disappear into smoke if she released her. Yang, not hurt by Blake's rejection, found a warm feeling spread through her chest when she looked at Ruby in Blake's arms. For a fraction of a second the feeling broke through and a single tear of happiness traveled down her cheek.

When the complete Team RWBY finally made it back to the dorm, Weiss and Yang immediately retired to their beds. Blake, not wanting to disrupt the delicate ropes holding Ruby's bed suspended, decided that it would be best for Ruby to spend the night with her. So she laid the younger girl down, gingerly in her bed, and moved to change into sleep wear, but Ruby had a vice like grip on her shirt. Realizing there was no way out of Ruby's grasp Blake chuckled to herself before lying down next to her beloved team leader. In one final act of affection, Blake placed a small kiss on Ruby's cheek and wished her sweet dreams.

* * *

Blake has always been a light sleeper; so when a pair of feet slammed against the floor early in the morning, she jolted awake. The noise startled the still sleeping Ruby, causing her to flinch. Blake, reacting to the sudden disturbance that scared both her and Ruby, turned over to cover Ruby with her body, her back facing the source of the noise. Blake's mind, still in the haze of sleep, registered the unexpected noise as an intruder and moved to protect Ruby from the incoming attack she assumed was coming.

After a few breaths of silence, Blake peaked her head up to looked around the room for the source of the noise. She found it almost immediately; Yang had leapt from her bed and was now hovering over the two of them with her scroll out, taking pictures of the two of them sleeping. Blake opened her mouth to yell at Yang, but the brawler quickly covered her mouth with her hand, her other hand extended its index finger and pushed the second knuckle against her lips vertically, telling Blake to remain quiet. With that same hand, she pointed down at Ruby, who was now flush against Blake as she lay on top of the younger girl. Blake got the message and swallowed her anger for the sake of not disturbing Ruby.

Yang snickered at Blake's dilemma and trotted away, on her way to the door she spun alarm clock that was on the desk so that it was facing Blake's bed. Blake grew pale when she realized that is was 6:58, two minutes before their 7:00 alarm would go off. Ruby had a rough day yesterday and Blake wanted to make sure that Ruby could sleep in to recover. If that alarm went off it was guaranteed to wake her up. Yang hid a giggle before promptly leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Blake cursed Yang as she was leaving, she was intent on torturing Blake, even if that method of torture was to disrupt her precious time sleeping with Ruby.

Blake really enjoyed last night, she had always wanted to be that close to Ruby, she hoped that one day Ruby would be willing to accompany her at night again. Ruby proved to be a very clingy sleeper, never once throughout the night did she release her grip on Blake. When a cool breeze blew through the open window and Ruby shivered, she would curl into Blake, seeking warmth. Her body was a perpetual heater, keeping the bed and Blake toasty warm throughout the night. Also, given Blake's infatuation with Ruby, just being in the same bed made her immensely happy. The drool, while usually would be a downside of sleeping next to Ruby, was seen as a cute little quirk that made Ruby unique in Blake's eyes. All in all, Blake could not find a single downside of sleeping next to her team leader, other than having to separate from her in the morning.

But now faced with a nefarious alarm clock, Blake panicked. She did not want to disturb Ruby's peaceful sleep, more so she didn't want to be forced to separate herself from Ruby, but with Ruby clinging so closely to her, she could do little to turn off the clock that sat on the other side of the room. Before she realized it the clock was at 6:59, it would go off any second. Blake, realizing her position and the inevitability of the coming events, closed her eyes and tried to bleed enjoyment from her last few seconds next to Ruby. The clock struck 7:00. No noise followed. Blake's head snapped to the clock, it read 7:01 AM. The cat-fanus released a sigh of relief, the alarm didn't go off, and Ruby could sleep a little bit longer.

That was until the younger girl, shifted in her sleep. Before Blake could even voice her discontent, Ruby sat up in bed, releasing Blake from her joyful imprisonment. The younger girl suddenly clutched her head, her eyes screwing shut as she released an agonized groan of pain. Blake shot up a the sound.

"Ruby! Are you alright?" Blake's mind was racing.

 _Maybe Yang was mistaken, maybe she really is hurt! As usual you find some way to screw it all up, you should have taken her to the hospital or infirmary to receive a professional checkup!_

Ruby mumbled something, but her groaning made it inaudible. Blake moved next tor Ruby to rub her back and shoulders to hopefully alleviate some of the pain, before speak to her again.

"Ruby … are you hurt? Please tell me what wrong … where does it hurt?" Blake's ears fell flush against her head in worry. Ruby responded with another mumble.

"I'm sorry Ruby, I can't understand you … can you speak up?" Blake spoke up slightly, to make sure Ruby heard her. When Ruby didn't respond Blake opened her mouth to speak again, Ruby's hand shot out towards her mouth, but in the younger girl's daze, her hand missed, instead landing half on her mouth and half caressing Blake's cheek. Blake's eyes widened in shock at the gesture, she knew that Ruby had wanted to silence her, but nonetheless she basked in the feeling of Ruby caressing her face. Blake unconsciously leaned into the contact, closing her eyes and relishing the sensation. Ruby stared at her teammate in utter shock, it looked as if Blake found pleasure in physical contact with her. But in the younger girl's mind, she was still trying to sort out what happened the day before.

She knew that she had approached a strange woman in a club, but after that she couldn't remember anything. She did notice that her carnal desire to be close to Blake was oddly missing, as if she was able to sate it with that woman yesterday. A small glimmer of hope rose in her chest, perhaps she was learning to truly forget her feelings for Blake. The notion filled her with both relief and dread. A subtle rumbling noise from Blake shook the younger girl from her thoughts, causing her to draw back her hand quickly. Causing Blake to stare at her with hurt eyes, but something flashed through the fanus' gaze, it was something akin to predatory possessiveness.

The next instance, Blake was reaching towards Ruby. The younger girl thought she was going to hit her for doing something wrong, and flinched. The fearful movement caused Blake's advancing hand to pause for a few seconds, before continuing at a much slower pace to illustrate that she meant the younger girl no harm. Blake's hand wrapped around the younger girl's wrist and pulled it away from her body. The younger girl offered mild resistance at first, but when Blake flashed her a smile full of warmth and kindness she let her arm run slack, allowing Blake to do what she wanted. Blake pulled Ruby's hand back towards her face, before readjusting her grip so she was holding the back of Ruby's hand. Just before Ruby's hand landed on Blake's face the pull on her arm halted, leaving her hand mere inches from an impossibly smooth and pale cheek. Blake cleared her throat, causing Ruby's eyes to dart from her hand, which she had been staring at, to Blake's eyes. Gold and silver were locked into place, neither pair wanting to break the bond. While maintaining uninterrupted eye contact, Blake moved her face forward into Ruby's hand. The cat-fanus nuzzled the younger girl's hand affectionately before she began to rub Ruby's hand with her cheek. At the start of Blake's motions, Ruby's breath hitched and her own cheeks flamed, causing Blake to smirk in success.

After a while, Blake released Ruby's hand and was pleased to find that Ruby didn't let her hand fall away, instead she kept the appendage in place against Blake's flesh. Eventually the pure bliss that Blake was feeling engulfed her, causing her eyes to droop closed. Ruby watching in awe as Blake continued to let her stroke her cheek, after a few seconds a low rumble began in Blake's chest, it took Ruby a few seconds to realize that Blake was _purring_. A smile crept across Ruby face when she realized that Blake was truly enjoying this.

That was until an epiphany hit her square in the gut. The force of the impact knocked the air from her lungs. Blake's behavior was not that of a friend, she was acting more like a lover. Friends don't _purr_ when their friends stoke their face. No, to get lost in the sensation of your lover's skin against your own could never be considered an acceptable interaction between just friends.

 _But … doesn't that mean Blake … likes me? Like, like-likes me? Like, she likes me like I like her? As in she loves me? She loves me? Me?! No one else? She_ loves _me?! She loves_ me _?!_

Before Ruby could regulate her out of control emotions, she blurt out a question.

"You love me?" Blake stopped her motions. Her eyes snapped open and stared straight into teary orbs of liquid silver. It took the older girl an instance to register the question and respond before the younger girl even had time to worry over the answer.

"I love you."

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

* * *

 **This is the end. I enjoyed writing this work. It took a while, but i regret nothing. I hope you all liked it. I'll post the first epilogue chapter next. It continues from where this last chapter left off.**


	11. Epilogue 1

**Take it Back – Epilogue 1**

* * *

"I love you."

Ruby froze in every aspect of her person. Her blood halted in her veins, air becoming stagnant in her lungs, even her mind ground to a halt. Ruby was unable to process anything happening around her, only Blake's words continued to echo in the dead silence of her thoughts.

 _I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you._

Blake, not knowing what else to do, went back to the sheer bliss she felt from Ruby's skin and resumed nuzzling the younger girl's hand, a subtle blush coating her cheeks. The sensation of Blake's cheek on her palm jump-started Ruby's systems, in an instant her heart rate elevated through the roof, her lungs began to rapidly dump and draw in air, her mind became an indiscernible haze of incoherent thoughts and emotions. The combination of her labored breathing, pounding heart and now buzzing thoughts filled her senses with what she perceived as static. Her sight faded from her eyes, her ears were ringing, every inch of her skin became numb. The last thought that flittered through her hazy mind was notion of discontent that resulted from not feeling Blake's impossibly smooth skin due to all feeling in her hand vanishing.

Blake noticed that Ruby was about to faint just in time to latch onto the unconscious girl and prevent her from falling off the bed and onto the unforgiving hardwood floors. Only when Ruby was safely in her arms, did Blake release a sigh of relief. To be honest, Blake wasn't sure how Ruby would react to her confession. She could understand rage, maybe even frustrated tears, but not fainting. She didn't know how to interpret fainting, did she faint from joy? Or from upsetting shock? She didn't know, but after seeing Ruby in the arms of someone else Blake resolved herself to do her utmost to ensure that she had no regrets when it came to Ruby. For now, she decided to simply lay Ruby down and let her sleep some more.

After tucking Ruby in and going down to the cafeteria to pick up some snacks for Ruby and herself Blake entered the dorm once more. A figure hovered over a sleeping Ruby, Blake first instinct was to hiss at the stranger fro getting so close to Ruby while she was vulnerable. The figure heard the sound of hostility and spun around to find a raven-haired girl in a low crouch, ready to pounce on her. The figure's blonde hair shimmered with heat for a brief instance after seeing the uncalled for hostility. Blake was snapped from her protective daze when she realized that it was Yang sitting on the bed next to Ruby. Yang eased back her semblance when Blake stood from her crouch, smirking at how Blake was now openly displaying her emotions.

"Relax kitty cat, it's just me. I see that Ruby is still sleeping." Blake nodded, before circling around the bed to sit on the other side. The additional weight on the bed caused the sleeping girl to shift in her sleep, resulting in the blankets being thrown from her body, both girls watching over her giggled at her antics. Blake leaned forward and swept Ruby's bangs from her face, before cupping her cheek as her hand retreated. Yang watched on with pure love shining in her teary eyes. She had always hoped that these two would find happiness, but she never imagined them finding it in each other. Blake's behavior in the past still irked Yang when she thought about it, but she was learning to let go of the anger and pain, just like Ruby had.

"You really love her … don't you?" Blake, not averting her gaze from ruby's sleeping face, nodded resolutely. "Despite your past mistakes, I give you my blessing. I ask that you make her the happiest girl in the world." Yang clapped her hand on Blake's shoulder, causing the cat-fanus to look over at her combat partner. Emotions welled up in Blake's eyes, but before a single tear could fall she lunged over and hugged Yang fiercely.

"Thank you … and I will." Blake's shoulders were shaking, Yang patted her back to sooth her. After a short while Blake whipped her eyes and release Yang. Ruby chose that moment to release a groan of discomfort. Apparently, Blake had been leaning on the younger girl and was thus preventing her from getting comfortable. Yang and Blake huffed in amusement.

With the unwelcomed weight off of her Ruby shifted position, once again, this time lifting her right leg out from under the covers and placing it on top of the pile of blankets at the bottom of the bed. Ruby was still in the sleep wear that Blake had changed her into the night before, which consisted of an extra large T-shirt that hung loosely on her frame, allowing for good air circulation, and short-shorts which served well in the hot nights. Ruby's long pale leg drew Blake's attention like a moth to a flame. Her eyes danced across the expanse of smooth pale skin, a blush creeping onto her face as she realized what she was doing, but the cat-fanus found herself unable to look away. Yang, seeing exactly what Blake was doing, quietly stood from her spot and walked to the door. Before leaving the room, she spoke to the _still_ staring fanus.

"I did give you my blessing … I'll give you two your privacy." Yang was grinning ear to ear like an evil genius, before promptly leaving the dorm.

Blake shook her head at Yang's antics, before resuming her admiration of Ruby's leg. Before long, Blake felt the irresistible desire to feel the smooth skin that was Ruby's leg. After feeling the younger girl's hand on her face, she found herself addicted to the feel of Ruby. She did harbor some misgivings about doing to Ruby while she slept, but after considering everything they would be doing once they became lovers, Blake considered this single experience some like a glimpse at the pure bliss she would have access to in a relationship with Ruby.

After much deliberation, Blake reached out her hand to feel the milky white flesh of Ruby's leg. The skin was cool to the touch, yet radiated heat. The muscles beneath the skin were firm and well developed; Blake became enraptured with the small amount of residual baby fat that remained on her thigh. In a few years this very same leg would become a toned and fit limb that exudes grace and power. Blake found herself drooling at the mental images that sprung forth in her mind. A blemish caught Blake's eyes, drawing her from her imagination. There was a strip of skin that was of a lighter shade than the skin on the rest of Ruby's immaculate thigh. Only when Blake's fingers feathered over the skin did she realize that it was Ruby's scar, the one from the training exercise where Ruby had saved her by pushing her out of the way of the Deathstalker's strike. The scar was nearly silver in color; the skin was rough compared to the rest of the thigh. Blake's heart clenched in pain and fear at the thought that this past wound had the capability of stealing the younger girl from her life. Before she could even realize what she was doing, Blake leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the scar. Her cheeks were lit afire when she realized that her face was so close to Ruby's pelvis. She snapped back up, hitting her head on the bed above in the process. The noise, miraculously, did not wake the sleeping girl.

Blake, took a moment to reacquire her composure. She lost herself in the sight and feel of Ruby's leg, something that would surely haunt her for days to come. Yet at the same time she found that the sensation of Ruby's skin had been etched in her memory. Surely that would be useful when Blake's urges became too much to bear. Blake shook the impure thoughts form her head. Ruby was sleeping mere inches from her and here she was, mind in the gutter. Blake grabbed her book from the nightstand and opened it to distract her from the vulnerable teen that slept nearby.

Her own carnal desires were still on full flare from the night previous. Seeing Ruby in the hands of a stranger had ignited a fire in Blake's core that refused to cool until she claimed Ruby as her own in both body and soul. She had been doing everything within her power to stay her hand, the last thing she wanted to do was force Ruby into something she didn't want. But that didn't mean she wouldn't take advantage of the small things that she was allowed to do, like nuzzling Ruby's hand or admiring her in her sleep. So long as she kept herself in check for now she knew she would be able to satisfy both herself and Ruby, so long as things went the way she wanted them to, and she would be damn sure to make sure they do.

* * *

 **End of Epilogue 1**


	12. Epilogue 2

**As you've most likely noticed this took a long while to come out. This is the normal speed at which i write these chapters. I began writing the main story back at the beginning of summer vacation, so you can tell it took me a really long time to write this work. I'll most likely be employing the same method for my next work, which is writing the entire thing before posting any of it.**

 **As for this work, I plan on writing one more Epilogue to end it. I already have a plan/prompt for my next work. It'll be a similar set up with Team RWBY, same pairing(s), just different plot. However, like i said above I'll be writing this new work completely before posting it. So do forgive me if it takes a while. I also plan for the new work to be longer than this one, possibly.**

 **This is probably the longest pre-chapter note I've ever written, I'll end it here with the usual disclaimer, I do not own any of these characters.**

 **Lastly, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Epilogue 2**

* * *

How Ruby found herself in this predicament, she did not know. From her point of view there was no way out. She could only do one of two things, wait or go for it. If she waited there was no guarantee that she would be safe, if she went for it then she was at even more risk.

Blake stood guard over her sleeping form. Except, the younger girl wasn't actually sleeping. She had woken up when she felt a subtle dab of some thing warm and wet hit her exposed thigh. She wasn't sure what landed on her leg, but her mind was more occupied with what to do about Blake. Blake's sudden confession seamed too surreal. Her body felt abnormally light, like she was dreaming. Her skin had grown numb to tactile sensations, and she felt like breathing was no longer necessary, that was until she fainted. After making a mental note to never stop breathing Ruby returned to contemplating her plan of attack.

 _I could throw the blankets over her head and make a break for the door, but what do I do after that? Oooh! I don't know what to do! I realize she confessed to me, but that doesn't mean she wanted to confess_ to me _. She may just be feeling guilty after finding out that I still like her. Blake is such a nice person … she must be confessing to me just so that she doesn't hurt my feelings by rejecting me again._

Ruby couldn't hold back a sigh, but saved it at the last second by turning it into a sleepy yawn. That was until Blake's gentle voice broke the silence that followed.

"How long are you going to pretend to be asleep?" Ruby sighed before sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"How did you find out?"

"There are plenty of cues, but really I just had to notice your breathing. When you sleep your breathing slows to a near crawl, but you were breathing normally just now." Ruby blushed at Blake's comment, suddenly finding her feet to be the most interesting thing in the world. Blake, noticing Ruby's sudden embarrassment and underlying anxiety, slid closer to the younger girl.

"Ruby, did you hear what I said … before?" Ruby had hoped Blake wasn't going to bring up _that_ topic.

"Ruby …" Blake reached forward, taking the younger girl's chin in her hand and lifting her head to force her eyes onto her. Ruby's met Blake's gaze for a moment before looking away, again. A tiny squeak of a voice escaped Ruby's lips.

"Yes …" Blake released the younger girl and leaned back, Ruby had heard her confession. She did not have to relive that emotionally draining ordeal ever again Ruby knew how she felt. But when the younger girl made no sign that she was going to comment on the confession, Blake decided to speak first.

"Well? How do you feel?" Blake's voice was on the edge of breaking, like a single indication of rejection would break her heart. Something in Ruby snapped. She hated that she was forcing Blake to be this emotionally vulnerable. Blake never did anything that could potentially hurt herself, yet here she was laying out her "heart" for all to see. Ruby knew it was fake, she _knew_ it. Blake would never- … could never like her the same way. So now Blake, ever the kind hearted, was confessing her "true" feelings to Ruby. She didn't want this; she would rather have Blake forever out of reach than to be graced with a glimpse of what they could be. Especially if she was forcing Blake to partake in something she didn't want. Ruby, unable to contain these feelings, burst out in angry tears.

"How do _I_ feel?! How do I _feel_?! I feel like _shit_! _This_ isn't what I want!" Blake froze, she had been expecting Ruby to jump into her arms and kiss her in acceptance, not this. She was not prepared for this. "This is something I've _never_ wanted! What makes you think I would ever want this? Why?! Because I confessed to you _once_?! I'm not a little kid, I've moved on … You don't have to do this Blake!" Blake could feel tears cascading down her own cheeks. What had she done wrong? Where had she made a mistake? Why was Ruby so upset?

Ruby rose up further, until she was kneeling on the mattress, Blake was still sitting a few feet away. "Do you honestly think that I'm happy about this? Really Blake? Tell me, why are you doing this?! The _real_ reason!" Blake was so confused, she obviously did something to upset the younger girl, but what she couldn't remember.

"Tell me!" Ruby's broken screech snapped Blake from her thoughts.

"R-Ruby, I don't- … What- … What are you talking about? I don't understand …" Ruby glared at Blake with eyes lit with fury.

"Your 'confession' … why did you do it?" Blake immediately answered.

"Because I lov-" Ruby cut her off.

"The real reason …" A sad tone bled into Ruby's voice.

Blake was lost. She didn't understand what she had done wrong, so she tried again.

"I do love you, Ruby … why won't you believe me?" Ruby was shaking her head.

" _This_ isn't what I want Blake. I don't want this … I don't want something that won't last!" Blake was getting agitated at Ruby's behavior.

"You think I 'won't last'? That I'll leave you after I've had my fill? After I've been satisfied, you think I'll toss you aside? Like trash? Do you really think so low of me?" Ruby ducked her head in shame, hiding behind her bangs.

"I know it won't last … something built off of lies and deceit could never last."

Blake was losing her patience, Ruby was avoiding saying what was really bothering her.

"What lies? Ruby! What lies? Do you think I'm lying when I say 'I love y-"

"Yes! You're lying! You're lying and I know it! …" Ruby was openly sobbing now, tears were staining her cheeks, her eyes were broken and filled with crushing despair. The sight broke Blake's heart. Ruby continued in a much softer voice, "I know what you are trying to do Blake … I would rather us just remaining friends than forcing you into a relationship with me … I'm sorry for falling for you-" Blake's heartache robbed her of the ability to speak, "… and I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to move on."

Blake could take no more. She lunged forward, grabbing the shaking Ruby by the shoulders and slamming their lips together. Ruby fought against Blake's grasp, struggling to get free. As Blake was starting to lose her grip, she threw her arms around the younger girl, securing her in place. After a few minutes of struggling, Ruby went limp, not in surrender but in defiance. Blake broke the kiss when she realized that Ruby wasn't kissing her back. Once there was breathing room between them, Ruby spoke.

"Don't do this Blake … please. I know you don't really like me … I know your only doing this because you feel guilty about rejecting me before. Please, I would rather go my whole life never knowing what it would be like to be with you, than make you partake in a forced relationship with me all because I'm a little kid who doesn't know how to let go. Please, Blake, I could never be happy forcing y-" Ruby's head snapped to the right, her cheek stung. Blake had slapped her; it was the only way the older girl could think to cease Ruby's accusations of her lying. Ruby clutched at her red cheek, looking at Blake through teary eyes. Blake took a deep breath; it was her turn to speak

"Ruby … I don't know why you think I'm lying when I say 'I love you' but it's the truth. I don't know any other way to say it. I know I have no right to say it, especially after what I said to you on the roof. But nowadays I find myself drawn to you, I feel happy when you are, and sad when you feel down. My heart skips a beat when you smile at me, and I can hardly contain this feeling in my chest whenever I look at you. When I saw you with that woman last night … I … I lost it … I nearly beat her to death, just for touching you. I couldn't stop myself. Seeing you in the arms of someone else was too much for me. Seeing her touch you made my blood boil, I was fully prepared to kill her for even looking at you! I get this uncontrollable urge to ravish you … to make you mine, to _mark_ you. I'm afraid I'll chase you off with these uncontrolled feelings; I felt I would lose you if I ever told you any of this. I know I have no right to think of you in the way that I do … but … but I can't help it. I love you, Ruby. I really do … I'm sorry you don't believe me, but please never be sorry for liking me or for confessing to me, because I am forever grateful that you did. I've lead a less than perfect life and I've made a lot of mistakes through the years, mistakes that I would give everything to take back. … Yet at the same time, I would make every single one of those mistakes a thousand times over if it meant that I could take back the one mistake I regret the most … rejecting you." Blake was having trouble speaking, a husky whisper replacing her voice at the tail end of her rant. Ruby was silently watching the cat-fanus. A small glimmer of hope was rising in Ruby's chest, maybe Blake really did like her. Blake took a shaky breath to continue.

"I love you, I can't say it any other way, it's the closest I can come to expressing all of these feelings to you through words. But if it's still not enough, then let me prove to you with my actions that _this_ -" Blake reaches out and clasps their hands together, fingers intertwining, "- is something I want and that I will never willingly let you go." Blake squeezed the younger girl's hands once for good measure.

After coming so far, and going through so much heartache, Blake didn't know how to convince Ruby that her feelings were genuine. So she decided to be as honest with herself and Ruby as possible. All the while her carnal desires told her to take Ruby right here and now. They screamed that the act of making love would surely convince Ruby of her devotion to her, but Blake's rational mind was fighting the urge. She wanted Ruby to want to be with her in that sense, rather than forcing it on the girl in the hopes that she would be receptive to her advances in the future. Worse case scenario, Ruby would be traumatized by the act, thinking of it as rape, and coming to hate and avoid her in the future. That thought alone was more than enough to stay her hand and cool her burning core. Not even her more instinctual desires that bordered on nymphomania would risk forever losing Ruby to a sexual trauma.

Ruby, in the mean time, was stuck in the middle of a tug-of-war in her heart and mind. She desperately wanted to believe that Blake was telling the truth, that she really did like her the same way Ruby liked her, but her mind was fighting back with cold logic.

 _If Blake really did like me, why would she have waited this long to tell me? Why wait until now to confess?_ … _Unless she has been feeling guilty about rejecting me before … but …_

Blake squeezed Ruby's hands once more. The feeling drew Ruby's eyes from their hands to Blake's face. Blake's brows were knit together, her ears flat against her head, and her eyes glistened with mounting tears. Her mouth was a thin line, constricted in worry. Ruby felt heat creep into her cheeks when she realized she was staring, her eyes flicked back down to their intertwined hands, the younger girl gasped when she truly looked at Blake's hands. The sudden sound scared the older girl, causing her to draw back her hands from Ruby's, but before they could wrap around the cat-fanus' person Ruby latched onto the wrist of one. Using her unnatural strength from swinging around a dense metal scythe, Ruby brought one of Blake's hands back into the light. Ruby's breath was caught in her throat at the sight. Blake's knuckles were raw and caked in dried blood, fresh scabs forming over the torn skin. Ruby's own fingers began tracing the wounds that would no doubt form into scars. Ruby's motions proved to be incredibly soothing to Blake, who closed her eyes and enjoyed the younger girl's touch. Blake almost fell into a deep slumber, but a hushed whisper brought her back to her senses, " _why?"_ Before Blake could even fully register the question, she blurted out the only answer she felt deserved being said.

"Because I love you." Ruby's ministrations stopped. For half a second Blake worried she might have set the younger girl off again for not sounding sincere enough. Blake didn't know how to react when Ruby slowly began to approach her. The younger girl's head was dipped; the bangs on her forehead hanging down like a curtain, shielding her eyes. Blake held her breath in anticipation, until she felt Ruby's arms snake around her body, instantly Blake's own arms encircled the younger girl. The next instance the two girls were locked in embrace. Ruby's mouth rested just next to Blake's ear. Blake could hear the younger girl suck in a breath of air, she found herself holding her own breath in anticipation.

"I love you, Blake." Blake screwed her eyes shut and squeezed the younger girl tightly before responding.

"I love you, Ruby."

* * *

 **Epilogue End**

* * *

 **I write this while writing the next and final chapter, I think I'll make the last one deserving of the M Rating that this work is labeled as. I don't have much experience with that kind of writing, but I feel it will be satisfactory. This is just a heads up, see you at the end.**


	13. Epilogue 3

**Well, I kinda' just powered through and wrote this last one in between classes. Yes this is the last one, I'll mark Take it Back as complete after i post this. I mentioned this in the note at the end of Epilogue 2, but this last one was a sort of experiment for me. I have little to no experience writing this kind of thing, but i decided to go for it. I think it ended up being pretty decent.** **Also, for anyone who has any qualms about this chapter not really "ending" the work, I say in response that this work really ended with Chapter 10. These are just add-ons, I believe that Chapter 10 contains a satisfactory ending.**

 **If I'm being honest, I feel like the Epilogue chapters are one possible direction that this work could have gone if I continued it. I didn't want to risk dragging this story on and making it boring, so I ended it at Chapter 10. How you continue the story is up to you.**

 **Also a small warning for those to whom it would apply, this chapter contains sexual intercourse between the characters.**

 **Usual Disclaimer, I do not own any of these characters. They are owned by Rooster Teeth.**

 **This is the last one for a while, so enjoy.**

* * *

 **Take it Back – Epilogue 3**

* * *

"I love you, Blake."

"I love you, Ruby."

Both Blake and Ruby leaned into the embrace, placing their entire weight on each other, trying the bleed both their warmth and love into each other. It wasn't long until Blake's greater mass proved heavier than Ruby's tiny frame, resulting in the embrace girls to fall over. Blake found herself on top of the younger girl, a blush creeping up her neckline at the sight of Ruby sporting a blush of her own that rivaled her namesake. Ruby, not able to withstand the tension in the air averted her gaze first. Blake, who was fed up with beating around the bush and suppressing her desires, gentle pulled Ruby's face back towards her own with her hand. Blake relished the sensation of the younger girl's impossibly smooth skin beneath her hand. The younger girl's face was radiating excess heat due to increased blood flow, increasing the warmth Blake felt on her palm.

Without even realizing it, Blake began stroking the younger girl's cheek, an action that intensified Ruby's blush. Blake felt a sensation bubble up from deep within her it surged towards the surface, demanding that it be acknowledged. Blake could hardly control herself when the feeling became too intense. Resolved to let go of her insecurities, Blake lowered her head to Ruby's with their lips aligning. In an instant the two girls were locked at the lips, kissing so furiously and passionately that the world around them became a negligible background. Blake could feel herself pressing down on Ruby, the mattress below the younger girl acting as an efficient trap, keeping her in place. Blake relished the feeling of Ruby's lips on her own, the taste of the younger girl proved to be intensely addicting. Blake's mind buzzed when she felt Ruby's tongue caress her own. After a few moments, Ruby grew bold. She began sucking on Blake's tongue, nibbling her lips, and dominating the older girl's mouth. Every action threatened the throw Blake over the edge, until Ruby took her lower lip between her teeth and clamping down pleasurably hard. Blake released an aroused moan, a sound that caused Ruby's eyes to grow dark with desire. Blake knew where this was headed, she knew that she would lose all self-control and ravish Ruby, the only thought that kept her in check was, _Does Ruby want this? Does she want to be with me in that sense? Here and now? I wouldn't be able live with myself if I violated her unwillingly …_

In that instance Ruby knew exactly what was going through Blake's mind. She could see the carnal desire deep within those pools of gold, yet she could see the hesitation. It didn't take long for her to figure out why Blake was hesitating. She wasn't the little kid she was in the past, she knew what couples did to express their insatiable desires for each other. Even now, with every sound she caused Blake to release she felt her core growing hot. For Ruby, either Blake was going to take her here and now, or she would be forced to pleasure herself in front of the girl she loved … It was at this time that an idea stuck the younger girl.

Blake, still in the haze of contemplation, hardly noticed the scheming grin that graced Ruby's face. Ruby began to shimmy away from the older girl who had her pinned to the bed; Blake was broken from her thoughts when Ruby moved to sit up. A pang of regret a shot through Blake's heart at the thought that her hesitation ruined her and Ruby's chance to connect on the most intimate level. That regret cooled her core and buried her lust, Blake's ears drooped in response.

Ruby on the other hand felt as if her body was on fire, her limbs had grown numb as all sensory prioritization was allocated to between her legs. Just the mere thought of what she was about to do sent jolts of breath taking pleasure up her spine. Ruby, while appearing more innocent than adult, certainly had more than enough experience to make this plan work, she had accumulated much of that experience and practice in the shower while thinking of her cat-faunus crush. Her speed semblance certainly had more than one use.

Ruby shimmied back until her head hit Blake's pillow, the scents wafting off of the cushion made the younger girl's head feel light. Ruby repositioned her body and after a few moments she was resting against the headboard, Blake's pillow supporting her head and upper back, and her legs were bent with her knees covering her upper body. Ruby's legs were lifted so that only her toes were pushing down into the soft mattress. From Blake's point of view she had great view of the back of Ruby's thighs and intimate region, if it weren't for the damned clothing blocking Blake's vision. Ruby traced Blake's line of sight, resulting in a searing blush to coat her already red face.

Blake found her core lit into a scorching inferno after a single glance at what the love of her life was doing. Ruby settled into her position before moving her knees apart and spreading her legs. Blake gulped at the entrancing sight; her eyes were glued to the expanses of smooth pale skin that were Ruby's legs. The divine, as Blake would describe them, limbs drew her attention to Ruby's pelvis. Ruby, following Blake's attention, moved forward with her plan only when she was sure Blake was looking in the right place. When pools of molten gold fell upon her sleeping shorts, a jolt of nervous excitement shot up Ruby's dominant right hand.

Slowly, the younger girl moved her hand, from its position on the bed next to her, to her neck. She caressed her neck, getting a feel for her own soft skin. Ruby always imagined that it was Blake's hand that was caressing her, with the other girl mere feet away and with her scent on the pillow below her head Ruby felt as if it truly was Blake touching her so tenderly. Ruby's hand was very quickly becoming numb due to anticipation, further enhancing the sensation that it was Blake touching her body. The hand traveled down over the large t-shirt she wore when she slept. Her hand tracing the valley down the middle of her bosom and across her flat and toned stomach. Her hand dipped down to her waistline, then stopped. Ruby, wanting to put on a small show for Blake, moved her hand up again, this time dragging her shirt up as well. The result was the younger girl openly displaying the pale skin of her hips and stomach off to the older girl. Blake lost it and moved to touch Ruby's skin. With her free hand Ruby stopped Blake's advance, before whispering in sultry voice dripping with lust and arousal, " _No touching …"_

Blake moaned in disappointment and sexual frustration, her hand shooting down to her lap, her legs squeezed together in an effort to create pleasurable friction. Ruby, seeing what she had reduced Blake to, moved her hand down her body once more, intent on giving Blake the show she wanted to from the start. As Ruby's hand approached her sleeping shorts, Blake's legs began to twist causing the older girl's body the writhe in sexual tension. When Ruby reached her shorts, there was a brief pause, pools of liquid mercury locked with glowing gold, Blake's breath hitched in her throat when she realized what Ruby was planning on doing. A glint of pure animalistic desire flashed across Blake's features. That was the trigger that prompted Ruby to drive her hand down to her burning core. Just the sensation of her hand grazing the sensitive skin nearby caused electrified jolts of pure ecstasy to erupt from her lower back and shoot up into her skull, her back arching in response to the breath taking sensation. Ruby desperately wanted to be able to hear Blake's breathing throughout the show and thus did her best to remain absolutely quiet, but the intensity of the pleasure she felt from her hand ghosting over her sex caused black spots to form in her vision and throaty moans to escape through her lips. Her breathing picked up, filling the dead-quite room with the younger girl's moans and panting. Ruby felt a slight tremor of fear reverberate down the length of her arm, if she felt this good without even touching herself fully she couldn't even imagine what it would feel like once she did, and that frightened her. In her hesitation Ruby glanced at the love of her life, Blake was sitting on the mattress, her legs folded beneath her, her thighs were pushing together for friction. The cati-faunus' ears were faced forward, intent on capturing even the slightest sounds that came from the younger girl. Her eyes were dilated, pupils nearly eclipsing golden rings. Blake's tongue darted out of her mouth to wet het lips every few seconds.

At the sight of the pink muscle that Ruby had tasted mere moments ago, forced Ruby's hand down onto her sex. The sensation stole her breath, putting a temporary end to her panting, her back remained arched and her voice became a strangled scream of pure ecstasy. After a moment of no movement from her hand the sensation faded. Intent on experiencing that feeling of pure bliss again, Ruby began her usual motions of moving her hand up and down, along the length of her sex. The edges of her vision began to fade, her breath became erratic and the tension within her body mounted higher and higher. With each wave of debilitating pleasure that washed over her, Ruby could hear her moans limb in pitch. The tension in her body was growing to frightening heights. Just when Ruby thought her body could handle no more, she felt herself crest the peak. At the cusp of her orgasm Ruby felt someone rip her hand from her shorts before the sensation of cool fingers penetrated her core. The sensation pushed the younger girl over the edge, her entire body shook with pleasure the orgasm surged through her. In her blind ecstasy Ruby screamed out Blake's name, the owners of the fingers imbedded within her core began to pump in and out of the shuddering girl as she came. This new sensation combined with her current orgasmic aftershocks pushed Ruby over the edge for her second orgasm. Just as the tsunami of unimaginable pleasure crashed down on the younger girl, she felt the fingers within her pump once, twice and a third time that was immediately followed by Blake screaming Ruby's name. The sound of her beloved yelling her name in ecstasy combined with her own orgasm compounded with the aftershocks of her first orgasm overwhelmed the younger girl. Ruby instantly passed out from pleasure, leaving her unconscious body to twitch, spasm and tremor beneath an equally shaking and unconscious cat-faunus.

* * *

After an unknown amount of time, Ruby awoke. She looked up to see a sleeping Blake laying on top of her, with her hand buried beneath her sleeping shorts. The hand Ruby had been pleasuring herself with was in Blake's mouth. Blake's brow was coated with a thin layer of sweat, no doubt from the exertion and torture she was just put through. The older girl's other hand buried within her own pants and hung limp on top of Ruby. The hand within Ruby's shorts twitched, causing Ruby's core to relight with surprising intensity. Ruby, paying no attention to whether she woke Blake or not, removed the older girl's hand from her pants and began to lick and clean the slick fluids that coated her digits. Blake stirred from her deep slumber, the memories of before made her purr in satisfaction that was until she felt a warm and wet muscle curl around the fingers of her dominant hand. Opening her eyes, she found a tantalizingly seductive Ruby, licking the still warm fluids that coated her fingers. The scene jump-started her core, quickly whipping it up into an scorching inferno. Blake retracted her own hand from Ruby's core, the action caused the younger girl beneath her to gasp in pleasurable stimulation. Blake gazed at her other hand, the one that had been _inside_ Ruby, with rapt attention, before popping them into her mouth. The taste of Ruby coated over her hand caused Blake to moan in pleasure. Ruby moaned in response as she sucked on Blake's other hand.

After both of Blake's hands were clean, orbs of silver locked with those of gold. After a brief moment of intimacy, both girls broke out in giggles. Their giggles developed into full board laughing. Eventually their laughing died down, the intensity was gone, replaced with an air of affection and adoration. Each girl knew that the other truly wanted this, and that they loved each other. Neither girl could imagine a more perfect situation, they had found the love of their lives and nothing would ever change that.

* * *

 **Take it Back - End**


End file.
